Film Screening: "My Neighbor Totoro" (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988)
Duke University Union Freewater Presentations and APSI are collaborating to bring three films from the award-winning Studio Ghibli to Duke's campus the week of February 6-10, 2024.
The first film, My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ), follows schoolgirl Satsuke and her younger sister, Mei, as they settle into an old country house with their father and wait for their mother to recover from an illness in an area hospital.
As the sisters explore their new home, they encounter and befriend playful spirits in their house and the nearby forest, most notably the massive cuddly creature known as Totoro.
Directed by the legendary Hayao Miyazaki, My Neighbor Totoro has received numerous awards, including the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize, the Mainichi Film Award, and Kinema Junpo Award for Best Film in 1988. It is generally regarded as one of the top animated films in the world, ranking 41st in Empire magazine's "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema" in 2010 and the number-one animated film on the 2012 Sight & Sound critics' poll of all-time greatest films.
"A beautifully observed film that has become a guaranteed charmer for all ages." - Allen Hunter, Daily Express
"An otherworldly tale of childhood and a definitive work of imagination." - Dan Jolin, Empire Magazine
"Here is a children's film made for the world we should live in, rather than the one we occupy." -Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Free and open to the public.
A second screening of the film will take place at 10:00PM.