Spirited Away

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

Famous in Asia and Europe for decades, Miyazaki finally became a household name in the US when Spirited Away (2001) won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. One of his most imaginative films, Spirited Away follows ten-year-old Chihiro as she and her parents move to a new home. They get lost along the way, ending up in a fantastical world full of Japanese gods and spirits. When her parents are turned into pigs, Chihiro gets a job in a bathhouse spa for the gods and finds herself caught up in a spiritual adventure. To rescue her parents, she must navigate this bizarre world and draw on an inner strength she does not know she has. According to Miyazaki, he made this film for “every ten-year-old, and everyone who has ever been ten years old.”

Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDUFP7EeXLE

135 minutes; PG

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).