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| The Tale Of Princess Kaguya was nominated for the Best Animation Oscar |
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| Isao Takahata at Annecy International Animated Film Festival in 2014 Photo: Boungawa/Wikipedia |
The Grave Of The Fireflies director founded Studio Ghibli with Hayao Miyazaki and producer Toshio Suzuki in 1985, more than 20 years after he made his animation debut in 1971, with Horus: Prince Of The Sun. Takahata's anti-war classic was released in 1988, the same year as Miyazaki's My Neighbour Totoro. Although neither was a box office smash at the time, they have become considered classics in the years since.
Other notable films by the director include Pom Poko, which was Japan's submission for the Foreign Language Oscar in 1994. Although he took a break from the industry after My Neighbours The Yamadas was less well received, he was back contending for Best Animated Film at the Oscars with The Tale Of Princess Kaguya in 2015.
Among those paying tribute to Takahata was Coco co-director Lee Unkrich, who wrote on Twitter: "Really sad to hear about the passing of Isao Takahata, co-founder of Studio Ghibli. Grave Of The Fireflies is an amazing, emotional film. And My Neighbors The Yamadas is incredibly charming. It also had a big influence on Michael Arndt’s script for Little Miss Sunshine."
Creative director of Aardman Animations Peter Lord replied: "Very sorry to hear about the death of this terrific director and delightful man."
Former Pixar art director Dice Tsutsumi wrote: "I’ve been crying. What a loss to the world of animation..."
The Spanish animator Enrique Gato - best known for the Tadeo Jones films - added: "Very sad news. One of the souls of Studio Ghibli is leaving."
Last year, My Life As A Courgette director Claude Barras told us: "The first thing that I remember being touched by as a child was the TV series of Heidi made in the Seventies by a Japanese Isao Takahata - and there is something of that series in Courgette in the sense of the simplicity of the characters and the melodramatic and realistic side of the story."
