A couple of weeks ago, Australian anime publisher Madman Entertainment announced the Celebrate Studio Ghibli film festival, taking place at a rather surprising number of cinemas across Australia and New Zealand from August 24th 2017 until September 20th 2017. The 28 days of film screenings is designed to be a “celebration of the complete theatrical works, and more” from the acclaimed animation studio, and will see all 22 of their films in addition to documentaries available with both English and Japanese audio.
Studio Ghibli’s most iconic and acclaimed works such as My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle will be on offer, in addition to their wider line-up of (in my opinion, mostly great works) including Whisper of the Heart, The Cat Returns and Only Yesterday. Other films such as Ocean Waves will be receiving their Australian cinematic review.
When first announcing the festival, Madman Entertainment confirmed that Celebrate Studio Ghibli will be holding opening night events. which will include a screening of Ghiblies Episode 2 and On Your Mark prior to My Neighbor Totoro. Attendees to these sessions will receive an exclusive ‘Celebrate Studio Ghibli’ A1 Print, with artwork designed by Australian artist, writer and filmmaker, Shaun Tan. The opening night events will be the only place you will be able to nab yourself one of these prints.
With tickets to the festival now on sale, we know where and when these opening night events will take place.
Not every cinema location hosting the festival will have an opening night performance, which are limited to generally one venue per state. Venues hosting these events include:
- BRISBANE: Event Cinemas – Brisbane City Myer Centre
- SYDNEY: Event Cinemas – George Street
- SOUTH AUSTRALIA: Event Cinemas – Marion
- VICTORIA: Hoyts – Melbourne Central
- WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Hoyts – Carousel
These events are generally being held on the evening of Thursday 24th August 2017, and will set you back around $50 per ticket (Which is the price of the Brisbane tickets). There is no indication at this time that any additional opening night locations will be offered leading up to the festival.
