Popular Studio Ghibli Film Festival shows at OMSI’s Empirical Theater, through Feb. 25

Published 12:15 am Monday, January 8, 2024

The popular Studio Ghibli Film Festival always draws big crowds to the Empirical Theater at Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.

And, fans of the Japanese animation studio, and movie lovers in general, will get another opportunity to see many Studio Ghibli films during the ninth annual festival, through Feb. 25 at OMSI, 1945 S.E. Water Ave.

It’ll include “My Neighbor Totoro,” “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” “Spirited Away,” “Howl’s Moving Castle,” “Ponyo,” “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind,” and Studio Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki’s newest film, “The Boy and the Heron.” There’ll be 20 different films screened.

The opening night celebration focuses on the 40th anniversary of Miyazaki’s “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.” There’ll be subtitled and dubbed versions of the film shown.

From publicity: For more than 30 years, Studio Ghibli has created some of the most revered and beloved animated works and characters and established itself as one of the world’s finest producers of animated motion pictures in the world. With a reputation for lush visuals, attention to detail and epic storytelling, Studio Ghibli creates intelligent, poetic, often fanciful films that embrace family, community and a deep concern for the environment.

Patrick Terry, adjunct assistant professor in Portland State University’s School of Film, has long studied East Asian and Japanese cinema. He understands the fascination with Studio Ghibli films.

“The basic appeal is that they are telling a specific story, but through that specificity they’re connecting to emotions and feelings that are relatively universal,” he said. “There is an immediate understanding you can get through watching their films, but also repeating viewings produce more analysis and debate. It keeps people coming back.

“They just want to go back into these worlds again and again.”

Terry believes there may be one or two Studio Ghibli films he hasn’t watched, yet, “but I’m familiar with the whole catalog,” he said. He first watched Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away” years ago, about Japan’s spirits and gods and the journey of a young protagonist.

He’ll be one of three special guests giving introductions before films at OMSI: Terry, “Only Yesterday,” Jan. 25; Dana Mirsalis, Pacific University professor, “Spirited Away,” Jan. 31; Robert Ribera, Portland State University professor, “A Wind Rises,” Feb. 7.

Terry said “Only Yesterday” is one of Studio Ghibli’s least seen films.

“It’s one of the films that is not in a fantastical world like ‘Princess Mononoke’ or ‘Porco Rosso,’ but in contemporary Japan,” he said. It’s about a young woman in her 20s in the 1990s, during the late stages of the country’s economic boom and cultural shift, when a fear of Japanese corporate dominance still hung over the world. She’s working in the city, taking the train to her hometown, and feeling nostalgic about her youth.

GKIDS serves as Studio Ghibli’s distributor now. And, while OMSI’s Empirical Theater remains a fantastic place to watch exceptional animation films, Studio Ghibli works can also now be seen on HBO Max.

Tickets are $8 for adults, $6.50 for youth and $7 for seniors.

More: omsi.edu.