Studio Ghibli’s long-awaited fantastical epic feature film The Boy and the Heron from Academy Award-winning visionary director Hayao Miyazaki comes to Australian cinemas on December 7. A young boy named Mahito yearning for his mother ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead. There, death comes to an end, and life finds a new beginning. semi-autobiographical fantasy about life, death, and creation, in tribute to friendship, from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki. The hand-drawn, original story animated feature — director Miyazaki’s first in 10 years — also features a musical score from Miyazaki’s long-time collaborator Joe Hisaishi, and the theme song for the film “Spinning Globe” was written and performed by global J-pop superstar Kenshi Yonezu. The Japanese cast is led by Soma Santoki as Mahito Maki and Masaki Suda as The Gray Heron. Additional casting includes Ko Shibaski (Kiriko), AIMYON (Lady Himi), Yoshino Kimura (Natsuko), and Takuya Kimura (Shoichi Maki). Please note this version of the film is in Japanese with English subtitles.