The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness

Mami Sunada's 2013 documentary inside Ghibli as The Wind Rises and Princess Kaguya are finished.

The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness is a 2013 Japanese documentary film directed by Mami Sunada. It follows the routines of those employed at Studio Ghibli, including Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata and Toshio Suzuki, as they work to release two films at once, The Wind Rises and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.

Quick Facts

Director

Mami Sunada

Producer

Nobuo Kawakami

Starring

Hayao Miyazaki
Toshio Suzuki
Isao Takahata
Hideaki Anno

Music

Masakatsu Takagi

Studio

Dwango

Distributor

Toho

Released

16 November 2013, Japan, 1 November 2014, HIFF

Runtime

118 minutes

Facts from the source article.

Background

The documentary delves into Miyazaki's life and the production of both films, with footage of the choice of Hideaki Anno as the voice of Jiro Horikoshi in The Wind Rises and of the extensive storyboards Miyazaki sketched, inked and painted. It records his opinions on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster and on Zero planes, his tensions with other staff including Takahata, and his memories of his father, and it closes on his supposed official retirement.

Walt Disney Studios Japan released it on Blu-ray on 21 May 2014, it screened at the Hawaii International Film Festival on 1 November 2014, Cinedigm and GKIDS issued a US DVD on 27 January 2015, and it joined Netflix in March 2015. It holds a 92% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, whose consensus calls it "a captivating treat for Studio Ghibli fans"; Sam Byford of The Verge called it essential viewing for any Ghibli fan, and Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com gave it three of four stars.