Isao Takahata 高畑 勲 29 October 1935 – 5 April 2018
Very sad news Studio Ghibli co-founder and legendary anime film director Isao Takahata has passed away. Mr. Takahata passed away at a hospital in Tokyo on 5 April 2018. According to sources, the director’s health began to decline in the summer of last year, and he was frequently hospitalized for conditions related to his heart. Mr. Takahata was 82 years old. He is most famously known for his emotional and poignant film version of semi-autobiographical war novel Grave of the Fireflies, received an academy award nomination for his last film The Tale of Princess Kaguya and more recently collaborated on Michaël Dudok de Wit on his film The Red Turtle.
Takahata’s works regularly broke the anime mould with their choice of story and alternative animation styles which were artistically significant to the creation of the genius that is Studio Ghibli. He will be sadly missed by anyone who knew his works and the film world will be less rich without him. Rest in peace.
“Rather than paintings that declare ‘I am the real thing’, I prefer paintings that say ‘As you can see, I am not the real thing, but please use me as a means to imagine or remember in a vivid way the real thing that is behind me’. My intent was to have the viewers be there at the moment when the sketches were being drawn and to have them share in the emotions. I want to make sure that we don’t forget the great power of paintings drawn by lines on paper to stir our imaginations and memories.”
- Isao Takahata, on the iconic, symbolic power of visual art in animation.
