A storyteller in love with the sky: Hayao Miyazaki

Hayao Miyazaki, one of the most important artists that Japan has given the world as a gift, is a prolific filmmaker who has produced dozens of films during his 50-year career. His extraordinary characters, his films, every frame of which is a work of art, and his brave discussion of the most fundamental problems of mankind on the big screen are among the features that make him unique. If you haven't met the Oscar-winning director, who deals with basic human problems such as environmental pollution, wars and the source of evil within us, we can easily say that there is a very important deficiency in your life. All films directed by Hayao Miyazaki are made by hand drawn one by one. It is also known that the director, who drew attention to this change in one of his interviews and said, “Perhaps we are living in the last period when films are made by hand”, does not use a computer or mobile phone. According to the director, who explained in an interview that old-fashioned drawing adds a different atmosphere to his films, the characters gain much more realism and depth thanks to the technique and color choices he uses.

A film that consists of hundreds of thousands of pages of hand-drawn drawings…  Every scene in the director's films is created by the combination of months of work and thousands of drawings. This is why critics see his films as an oil painting that goes on for two hours.

Miyazaki was born near Tokyo in 1941. His father, who inherited his passion for cinema, was an executive at the family business, Miyazaki Airplane. Thanks to this company, which also made Japanese warplanes in the Second World War, the seeds of the passion for aviation that we can see in all of the director's films were planted. The famous director, who is approaching 80 years old, is the first name that comes to mind when it comes to manga and anime art. The director, who has more than 50 years of experience in this industry, is the founder of the animation studio he founded in partnership with his close colleague (Isao Takahata). What America's Walt Disney, Orson Welles, and Steven Spielberg are, Japan's Hayao Miyazaki is. He has engraved his name on the list of the most impressive people in the world. Miyazaki, whose name is well known to animation lovers, deserves even more fame. Anyone who cares about art and artists should definitely see the works of this important person. That's why we've compiled Miyazaki's top 5 movies for you...

1-Spirited Away

This 2001 film is Miyazaki's best film, as everyone agrees. 10-year-old Chihiro embarks on an unforgettable adventure in pursuit of lost souls and strange creatures in a mysterious world she accidentally entered. The director, who tells about the people drowning in the capitalist order in a fairy-tale style, won the Best Animated Film Oscar with this movie.

2- My Neighbor Totoro

The anime, originally titled "Tonari No Totoro", was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. The film tells the relationship between two sisters and forest spirits. Totoro, the anime's supernatural hero, later became the mascot of Studio Ghibli.

3-Little Witch Kiki

In order for 13-year-old Kiki to inherit witchcraft from her mother, she must pass a test and prove herself. For this, he has to spend a year alone. Adapted from Eiko Kadano's novel of the same name, the film chronicles the ebb and flow of Japanese teenagers as they emerge from childhood, between their commitment to their families and their freedom.

4-Princess Mononoke

The film is about Ashitaka's struggle with the evil beings coming from the forest, who is living a peaceful life in his village. He summarizes the destruction of nature by human beings in a fairy-tale style and the struggle between good and evil. “Mononoke,” a Japanese word used to describe spirits and monsters, is one of the director's most important films.

5-Ponyo

This warm film, which tells the story of the little goldfish Ponyo, draws attention with its humane and environmentalist attitude. The Japanese blockbuster film chronicles Ponyo's struggle to transform from a fish to a little girl.