Film director Hayao Miyazaki expressed delight Tuesday about winning the top prize for his animated film ¡°Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi¡± (¡°Spirited Away¡°) at the Berlin Film Festival.
During a news conference at a Tokyo hotel, Miyazaki accepted the trophy for the Golden Bear award, which his film shared with a British-Irish move, and said, ¡°It is heavy.¡±
The 61-year-old filmmaker said he felt honored at receiving such a major prize.
Miyazaki, however, quickly added that, ¡°A film is rewarded at the very moment it has an audience,¡± saying the award was a ¡°supplement¡± to it. The animation industry icon also expressed his mixed feelings toward the enormous popularity his works have enjoyed among children.
¡°Children spend hours in front of TV sets watching our videos. They cannot grow in such a way,¡± he said. ¡°I often feel I¡¯m in a dilemma, as (my works) are accepted widely.¡±
It was the first time an animated film has taken the top prize in Berlin -- one of the world¡¯s top three film festivals along with Venice and Cannes -- and the second time a Japanese film has won the Golden Bear since the 1963, when Tadashi Imai¡¯s ¡°Bushido Zankoku Monogatari¡± (¡°Stories of Samurai Cruelty¡°) was voted best film.
On Monday, the distributor of ¡°Spirited Away¡± announced that the film¡¯s run would be extended in theaters nationwide. The film has sold more than 22 million tickets since it opened in July, breaking box-office records.
¡°Spirited Away¡± is about 10-year-old Chihiro, who suddenly finds herself working in a hot-spring resort that caters to spirits and gods after she and her parents wander through a tunnel.
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