Welcome to the Ghibliotheque, the podcast that leafs through libraries of films from the world’s greatest animation studios.
In 2018, Michael Leader, an avowed Studio Ghibli fanatic, sat down with Jake Cunningham, who had never seen any of the Studio’s work before. Together they looked at the history behind Ghibli's films (including Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro and Princess Mononoke), and got a critical perspective from Jake as a first-time viewer. They covered all of Studio Ghibli's films, visited Japan on the ultimate Ghibli pilgrimage, and have since interviewed artists, animators and filmmakers who have either worked on or have been deeply inspired by Ghibli's films. With their co-host Steph Watts, they have also branched out to cover filmographies of other studios and filmmakers whose work has revolutionised animation, from Satoshi Kon and Mamoru Hosoda to Cartoon Saloon and Henry Selick.
Where will we go next? For more information, follow us on Twitter at @ghibliotheque, or on Instagram at ghibliotheque.pod. Or email us at ghibliotheque@gmail.com.
Follow Michael and Jake on Twitter:
@MichaelJLeader – Michael
@jakehcunningham – Jake
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Welcome to the Ghibliotheque, the podcast that leafs through libraries of films from the world’s greatest animation studios.
In 2018, Michael Leader, an avowed Studio Ghibli fanatic, sat down with Jake Cunningham, who had never seen any of the Studio’s work before. Together they looked at the history behind Ghibli's films (including Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro and Princess Mononoke), and got a critical perspective from Jake as a first-time viewer. They covered all of Studio Ghibli's films, visited Japan on the ultimate Ghibli pilgrimage, and have since interviewed artists, animators and filmmakers who have either worked on or have been deeply inspired by Ghibli's films. With their co-host Steph Watts, they have also branched out to cover filmographies of other studios and filmmakers whose work has revolutionised animation, from Satoshi Kon and Mamoru Hosoda to Cartoon Saloon and Henry Selick.
Where will we go next? For more information, follow us on Twitter at @ghibliotheque, or on Instagram at ghibliotheque.pod. Or email us at ghibliotheque@gmail.com.
Follow Michael and Jake on Twitter:
@MichaelJLeader – Michael
@jakehcunningham – Jake
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This episode, Michael and Jake speak with stop-motion director Claude Barras about his new film, Savages, his previous film, the Ghibliotheque favourite My Life as a Courgette, his life in animation and his almost Takahata-like approach to research.
To listen to Claude's full, unedited French answers, fast forward to 40.10.
Savages is in UK cinemas now.
Subscribe to our Patreon for ad-free episodes and bonus conversations in our Library Cafe series.
Follow us on Twitter or Instagram, or drop us an email at ghibliotheque@gmail.com.
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On the pod this week, Michael speaks with Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis about his Oscar-winning feature, FLOW. This conversation was recorded during the London Film Festival in October 2024, partway through Zilbalodis's remarkable journey with the film: a low-budget, independent feature made by a small crew that became one of the most lauded films of the year, and eventually picked up the Oscar for Best Animated Feature against stiff competition from the animation world's biggest names.
Flow is in UK cinemas from 21st March, and Gints's first feature, AWAY, is returning to UK cinemas from 14th March.
On Saturday 15th March, we're hosting a special double bill of both films, plus two of Gints's early shorts, with a masterclass Q&A with the director himself, at Curzon Soho in London. Find out more about this 'Whole Loada Zilbalodis' retrospective here.
Subscribe to our Patreon for ad-free episodes and bonus conversations in our Library Cafe series.
Follow us on Twitter or Instagram, or drop us an email at ghibliotheque@gmail.com.
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It's the second part of our awards season chat about the Oscar-nominated animated films! Michael, Jake and Steph talk about Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, Flow and Memoir of a Snail.
Scroll back through our archive for interviews with Oscar nominees Chris Sanders (The Wild Robot), Nick Park & Merlin Crossingham (Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl) and Adam Elliot, and look forward to our interview with Gints Zilbalodis (Flow), coming to podcast your feeds in March.
Subscribe to our Patreon for ad-free episodes and bonus conversations in our Library Cafe series.
Follow us on Twitter or Instagram, or drop us an email at ghibliotheque@gmail.com.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
It's awards season! And we're jumping into the fray. In this first episode of a two-part awards miniseries, Michael and Jake talk about the two CG-animated offerings from Hollywood studios in contention for Best Animated Feature this year: Inside Out 2 and The Wild Robot.
Scroll back through our archive for interviews with Oscar nominees Chris Sanders (The Wild Robot), Nick Park & Merlin Crossingham (Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl) and Adam Elliot, and look forward to our interview with Gints Zilbalodis (Flow), coming to podcast your feeds in March.
Subscribe to our Patreon for ad-free episodes and bonus conversations in our Library Cafe series.
Follow us on Twitter or Instagram, or drop us an email at ghibliotheque@gmail.com.
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In this episode, Michael speaks with Australian stop-motion filmmaker Adam Elliot (Mary & Max, Harvie Krumpet) about his new, Oscar-nominated film Memoir of a Snail. In this wide-ranging conversation, Adam speaks about the enduring influence of David Lynch, how he crafts his distinctive films, his love of stories that mix the dark with the light and his memories of working with Philip Seymour Hoffman on Mary & Max.
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Director Naoko Yamada (A Silent Voice, Liz and the Blue Bird) joins us to talk about her new film, the delightful coming-of-age music drama The Colours Within.
If you would like to hear Ms Yamada's Japanese responses in full, the unedited interview starts from 32.30.
Subscribe to our Patreon for ad-free episodes and bonus conversations in our Library Cafe series.
Follow us on Twitter or Instagram, or drop us an email at ghibliotheque@gmail.com.
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It's not a Ghibliotheque miniseries until we've opened the mailbag! This week, Michael, Jake and Steph are opening some Park Life mail from listeners, to hear their thoughts on all things Vengeance Most Fowl, which Wallace and Gromit adventure deserves the top spot in the rankings, and more.
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Our journey through the films of Nick Park comes to a close with a conversation with the man himself! To mark the release of the new Wallace and Gromit adventure, Vengeance Most Fowl, Michael speaks with Nick Park and co-director Merlin Crossingham about directing as a pair, the importance of the human touch in animation, and how intimidating it is to animate Feathers McGraw.
Subscribe to our Patreon for ad-free episodes and bonus conversations in our Library Cafe series.
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It's us... again! Michael, Jake and Steph gather round the Christmas tree to discuss Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham's latest Wallace and Gromit adventure, Vengeance Most Fowl.
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Ole, ole, ole, ole... it's time for Early Man! Jake's doing his best Peter Crouch robot dance in the recording studio, but will Steph and Michael feel just as celebratory?
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Back in 2020 we looked at a couple of documentaries about Studio Ghibli, including Kaku Arakawa's Never-Ending Man. Now, after the release of Arakawa's latest documentary Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron, made during the production and release of Miyazaki's most recent film, Michael and Jake take a look at this latest look into the interior world of Ghibli.
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@MichaelJLeader – Michael
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Hold onto your buns, this week Michael, Jake and Steph are back in shorts territory with Nick Park's fifth Wallace & Gromit adventure, A Matter of Loaf and Death.
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Beware! Michael, Jake and Steph are about to explore the lore of the terrifying Were-Rabbit. Continue if you dare...
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"It's a podcast machine, you idiot. Podcasters go in, podcasts come out." This week, Michael, Jake and Steph discuss Aardman's feature debut, co-directed by Nick Park alongside studio co-founder Peter Lord, the farmyard break-out comedy-adventure, Chicken Run.
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Tragic romance! Sheep rustling! Dirty windows! Michael, Jake and Steph don their favourite woolly jumpers and settle in for a chat all about Nick Park’s third Wallace and Gromit adventure, A Close Shave.
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Is that a chicken, or a penguin? Steph, Michael and Jake are here to investigate, as they look into Nick Park's second Wallace and Gromit tale The Wrong Trousers.
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This week, Nick Park's career takes off with the very first Wallace and Gromit adventure, A Grand Day Out.
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This week, Michael, Jake and Steph are back with a new miniseries charting the career of animation legend Nick Park and his work at the peerless plasticine-powered studio, Aardman Animations. To start, we look at his Oscar-winning first film, the chatty zoo-themed mockumentary Creature Comforts (1989), which was his first directorial credit for Aardman after contributing to projects such as the era-defining music video for Peter Gabriel's 'Sledgehammer', and while slowly working in the background on his long-gestating student project, A Grand Day Out (more on that next week!).
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To close out the Shinkaideology we've taken the chance to reshare the interview we had with Makoto Shinkai almost two years ago. Some may have already have heard this, but we've had lots of new listeners join the show, so wanted to take the chance to get his voice on the feed for the end of the mini-series.
As his new blockbuster anime Suzume is released in UK cinemas, director Makoto Shinkai (Your Name, Weathering With You) speaks with Michael and Jake about turning a romantic lead into a three-legged chair, falling in love with Whisper of the Heart, being touted as 'the next Miyazaki', and his filmmaking career to date.
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@MichaelJLeader – Michael
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This week, Michael and Jake bring the Shinkai-deology up to date with Makoto Shinkai's latest release, and the third film in his loose trilogy of high-concept, disaster-themed features: Suzume. However, this time, Shinkai makes the connection with the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake more overt than ever, with a young girl and her chair boyfriend travelling the full length of Japan to close a series of mystical doors, and heal the long-standing trauma of a nation.
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