Boro the Caterpillar

A caterpillar's first steps into a vast world.

Boro the Caterpillar is a 2018 Japanese animated short film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki for the Ghibli Museum. The story follows a newly hatched caterpillar named Boro as he ventures into the world. It premiered at the museum on March 21, 2018, and is shown only at the Ghibli Museum and Ghibli Park, with one outside screening at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

Quick Facts

Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Producer: Toshio Suzuki
Starring: Tamori
Cinematography: Atsushi Okui
Music: Joe Hisaishi
Studio: Studio Ghibli
Distributor: Ghibli Museum
Runtime: 14 minutes

Facts from the source article.

Production

The idea for Boro the Caterpillar originated from sketches Miyazaki made in 1995. He first proposed it as a feature film, but producer Toshio Suzuki, concerned about the difficulty of a feature-length movie with no human characters, suggested Princess Mononoke instead. In 2015, Miyazaki came out of retirement to work on a roughly ten-minute short for exclusive screening at the Ghibli Museum. Miyazaki described the plot as about a tiny, hairy caterpillar easily squished between fingers.

Suzuki encouraged the shift to CGI, believing the technical challenge might reignite Miyazaki's passion. Miyazaki stated he had ideas he might not be able to draw by hand and hoped CGI could realize them. Suzuki chose a team of Japanese CGI animators over Pixar under John Lasseter, as the former could speak Japanese. On September 21, 2015, CG animator Yuhei Sakuragi announced he would help complete the film.

Production was partially documented in the NHK documentary Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki (2016). Japanese television host and comedian Tamori provided all voices and sound effects, and the piano song at the end was performed by Joe Hisaishi.