The Boy and the Heron 

Masterpieces from Studio Ghibli Full Festival Schedule
Tickets are available online and at the admission desk.
Full Festival Pass

The Boy and the Heron (2023) won both the Japan Academy Prize and the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film this past spring; Miyazaki has suggested this will be his final film. Drawing from his own childhood experiences and echoing many of the themes of his earlier films, The Boy and the Heron stands as a beautiful summation of Miyazaki’s artistic vision. After a young boy named Mahito loses his mother in a bombing raid in Tokyo during World War II, his father, Shoichi, moves him to the country home of his late mother; then, he marries her younger sister, Natsuko. Still grieving for his mother and unwilling to accept his new stepmother/aunt, Mahito is approached by a magical heron who tells him that his mother is still alive and waiting for him in a mysterious tower built by his late granduncle. Venturing into the tower with the heron as his guide, Mahito enters a fantastic dream world where he makes a spiritual journey to overcome his grief and answer the question, “how do you live?” Starring the voice talents of Luca Padovan (Mahito), Christian Bale (Shoichi), Robert Pattinson (the Heron), Dave Bautista (the Parakeet King), Mark Hamill (Granduncle), Willem Dafoe (the Pelican), and Gemma Chan (Natsuko).
Watch the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5khm-VjEu4
124 minutes; PG-13

All film screenings will be held in the Modern's auditorium. Tickets are $10; $8 for Friend-level Modern members; $7 for Associate-level Modern members and above. Cinephiles who plan to enjoy the weekend’s entire selection of films will receive a discount for pre-purchasing all of their tickets at once. 

Welcome to the Modern’s film festival, Masterpieces from Studio Ghibli. This year we are excited to present a festival showcasing six Ghibli films and one pre-Ghibli film from the animation masters who founded Studio Ghibli—Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. A highlight of our program is The Boy and the Heron, this year’s winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film.

All films in the Masterpieces from Studio Ghibli Film Festival will be introduced by Dr. Marc Hairston, a research scientist at the University of Texas at Dallas. A professional space physicist, part-time anime scholar, and Fort Worth native, Hairston has hosted annual Japanese animation festivals at the Modern since 2014. He is one of the founding editors of Mechademia, the first academic journal focused on anime and manga studies and has written numerous scholarly articles about anime. With Dr. Pamela Gossin, also at UT Dallas, he has co-authored two books about anime and manga aimed at high-school-age readers, Cultural Guide to Anime and Manga (2023) and Exploring Anime and Manga (World of Art) (2024).