Takahata to Film Kaguya Hime Movie

Last Friday, at the 62nd annual Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland, Studio Ghibli co-founder and veteran anime director Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies, Only Yesterday, Pom Poko) revealed that his next anime film will be an adaptation of the Japanese fairy tale Taketori Monogatari (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter), also known as Kaguya Hime no Monogatari (Tale of Princess Kaguya). The 10th century folktale, said to be Japan’s oldest fiction story, tells the tale of Kaguya, a moon princess found inside a glowing bamboo shoot on earth. Kaguya is raised on Earth, but eventually tearfully returning to her true home on the moon.

Takahata was at the film festival to accept the celebrated “Leopard of Honour” award for lifetime achievement. As seen below, Takahata depicted Kaguya-hime in a scene in his most recent directorial work, 1999’s Tonari no Yamada-kun (My Neighbors the Yamadas).

Source: GhibliWorld