Studio Ghibli, founded in 1985 by Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata and Toshio Suzuki, has made more than twenty feature films, many of which were international hits, such as the Oscar-winning ‘Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi’ (Spirited Away/Spirited Away, 2001).
The spokeswoman for the studio co-founded by Miyazaki, 85 years old and reluctant to international events and travel, said they could not yet go into details about the award because they had received the news recently and were still finding out the details.
The award was announced at the end of what is known as the “Golden Week” Japanese holiday, so Ghibli’s Tokyo offices remained closed, as EFE was able to verify.
The jury report, made public in Oviedo (northern Spain), indicates that, with its films, Studio Ghibli has transformed creativity into knowledge and communication through a highly imaginative artisanal process with which it has created universal stories full of sensitivity and humanist values.
His films, through empathy, tolerance and friendship and respect for people and nature, have transcended generations and borders to become a reference for the challenges of globalized society with a cinema that extols the beauty of everyday life, according to the jury.
Studio Ghibli has become the seventh Japanese winner in the 46 editions of the awards and takes over from the German philosopher of South Korean origin Byung-Chul Han in the Communication and Humanities section, who in recent years distinguished the Franco-Iranian filmmaker Marjane Satrapi, the Italian philosopher Nuccio Ordine, the Polish writer Adam Michnik and the American journalist Gloria Steinem.
Communication and Humanities was the second of the eight categories to fail this year after Arts, which went to the American singer and writer Patti Smith.
The Princess of Asturias Awards ceremony, which this year reaches its forty-sixth edition, is traditionally held in the month of October in a solemn ceremony presided over by the kings, accompanied by Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía, at the Campoamor Theater in Oviedo.