A press release came in on the wire today from our friends at Madman, announcing their acquisition of The Wind Rises (風立ちぬ, Kaze Tachinu), which famed Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki has said will be his final film.
The story follows an aircraft engineer in pre-war Japan, loosely based on Jiro Horikoshi, the designer of the Zero fighter plane used in WWII. It’s an interesting choice of subject matter for the staunchly pacifist director, who has recently spoken out against proposals to revise Japan’s constitution (see this Guardian article for more details).
At any rate, it’s done extremely well in Japan, and it’s already screened in competition at the Venice Film Festival. Madman’s press release says that they will be bringing The Wind Rises to Australian cinemas in 2014.
There’s more information in the full press release, and here’s a trailer with English subtitles from the upcoming Toronto Film Festival screening: