Japanese animation giant Studio Ghibli will receive an honorary Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes International Film Festival in France in May, according to organizers.
Co-founded by internationally renowned anime director Hayao Miyazaki and known for its masterpieces such as "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Spirited Away," the Oscar-winning production company "has unleashed a fresh wind on animated film over the past four decades," the festival's organizers said in a statement Wednesday.
It will be the first time the Cannes festival has given the award to an institution, rather than an individual.
Noting the success of Miyazaki and Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata, "they achieved what seemed to be an impossible feat: independently producing pure masterpieces and conquering the mass market," the organizers said.
"In four decades and over twenty feature films, Studio Ghibli won over its audiences with works imbued with poetry and with humanistic and environmental commitments," they added. "With Ghibli, Japanese animation stands as one of the great adventures of cinephilia, between tradition and modernity."
Toshio Suzuki, a producer and another co-founder of Studio Ghibli Inc., was quoted as saying he was "truly honored and delighted" to receive the award.
"Although Miyazaki and I have aged considerably, I am sure that Studio Ghibli will continue to take on new challenges, led by the staff who will carry on the spirit of the company."
The studio's 2023 film "The Boy and the Heron" won the U.S. Academy Award for best animated feature in March, Miyazaki's second Oscar.
This year's Cannes film festival will be held May 14-25.
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