A First Look At Studio Ghibli’s First CGI Movie ‘Aya and the Witch’. Studio Ghibli releases a first look at their first movie in six years, Aya and the Witch, featuring a new style of CGI Animation.
Japanese animation film studio, Studio Ghibli, has recently dropped a preview of their newest film, Aya and the Witch. This is the first movie the studio will release in six years, but unlike their previous movies, this one will be fully made using CGI animation instead of the hand-drawn technique that the studio is best known for.
The story is based on the children’s book “Earwig & The Witch” by Dianne Wynne Jones. Making this the second movie by Studio Ghibli that’s based on a Wynne Jones book, the first one being Howl’s Moving Castle that was released in 2004. The movie will follow a young orphan, Aya, who was adopted into a household filled with sorcery and magic. As she discovers her new home is filled with spirits and haunting ghouls, throughout the movie she will slowly adjust and adapt to these strange new surroundings.
The movie will be directed by Goro Miyazaki, son of Hayao Miyazaki, who is the co-founder of the studio as well as the writer for this movie. This will be the second children’s book movie he directs, after Ursula Leguin’s The Tales from Earthsea. The studio was hesitant about releasing a movie in midst of a pandemic, in fear of changing times for the movie and television industry as well.
“Can Aya and the Witchdo well after corona? I thought about that many times when I was watching the early footage. Then I realised the big characteristic of the movie is Aya’s wisdom. If only we have wisdom, we can overcome anything in any era. When I thought about that, I was relieved,” says producer and Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki to NME.
Aya and the Witch was originally set for the 2020 Cannes Film Festival, but due to the coronavirus outbreak, the event has been cancelled. However, the movie is still included as part of the festival’s official selection for this year. The movie now is to be aired in NHK for Japan audiences later this year, and there has yet to be any announcements on the movie’s international release. (Text Vanya Harapan)