Miyazaki making short film

Hayao Miyazaki (above). PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

TOKYO •Oscar-winning animator Hayao Miyazaki, who retired from feature film-making in 2013, said he is working on a short animation movie using computer graphics.

To screen at Tokyo's Ghibli Museum, it is being made with his staff at his Studio Ghibli and a new group of computer animation artists, the Wall Street Journal reported. Studio Ghibli is known for its hand-drawn animation under Miyazaki, 74.

"I'm just starting to work on a new anime," he said yesterday at a press conference in Tokyo.

The 10-minute short is based on Kemushi No Boro (Boro, The Caterpillar) and was planned as a feature before production began on Princess Mononoke (1997), said the Asahi Shimbun last week. It will take three years to complete.

Miyazaki, whose last film was accused by some South Koreans of glamorising war, also denounced Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to expand the role of the military, said Bloomberg. The film-maker said Japan needed to clearly state its remorse over its imperialist past.

He urged Mr Abe to make a clear apology to China in a statement to be issued next month to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.

His comments came as Mr Abe is poised to ram legislation through parliament to let Japan defend other countries, amid concerns over an increasingly assertive China.

The comments also followed the release in 2013 of his final feature-length film, The Wind Rises, which was criticised for what some people said was romanticisation of conflict.

The film was a fictionalised account of the life of Jiro Horikoshi, designer of the Zero warplane used in the war. It depicts Horikoshi as an aeronautics enthusiast dismayed at the use of his creations for war.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 14, 2015, with the headline Miyazaki making short film. Subscribe