Film Screening: "Spirited Away" (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)

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 second film, Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し), 10-year-old Chihiro (Rumi Hiiragi) and her parents (Takashi Naitô, Yasuko Sawaguchi) stumble upon a seemingly abandoned amusement park. After her mother and father are turned into giant pigs, Chihiro meets the mysterious Haku (Miyu Irino), who explains that the park is a resort for supernatural beings who need a break from their time spent in the earthly realm, and that she must work there to free herself and her parents. Directed by the legendary Hayao Miyazaki, Spirited Away held the record for highest-grossing film in Japan for a record 19 years. It was the first hand-drawn, Japanese anime and non-English-language animated film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards (2003). "Like old myths and wonder tales spun afresh." - Jane Horowitz, Washington Post "Spirited Away is the great treasure of 21st-century animation, and we may still be saying that when the 21st century ends." - Nigel Andrews, Financial Times "Magical is a word used casually about films like this, films about fantasy and childhood. Yet this one really does deserve it." -Peter Bradshaw, Guardian Free and open to the public. A second screening of the film will take place at 10:00PM.