12-year-old Mahito lives with his parents in 1940s Tokyo. When tragedy strikes, he travels with his father to the countryside where he struggles to fit in and is pestered by a local heron. The revelation that the heron has the ability to speak begins a fantastic adventure wherein Mahito travels to a magical world and, in the process, confronts his grief.

Miyazaki’s triumphant return to feature films is a vibrant, colourful and moving piece of work, full of imagination and creativity. It feels like the culmination of a life’s dedication to his craft.

The English dub version features one of the strongest voice cast to date for a Studio Ghibli release, including Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Gemma Chan, Willem Dafoe, Karen Fukuhara, Mark Hamill, Robert Pattinson and Florence Pugh.

The Boy and the Heron will screen in the original Japanese version with English subtitles, and the English language dub version (look for the dub symbol beside screening times).

Academy Award winner for Animated Feature Film.