Born in 1941 in Tokyo, Japan. Miyazaki co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985 with Isao Takahata. Among his eleven animated features, Spirited Away (2001) broke every box office record in Japan, and won the Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival and the 2002 Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature Film. Howl's Moving Castle (2004) received the Osella Award at the 2004 Venice International Film Festival. Miyazaki was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2005 Venice International Film Festival. The Wind Rises (2013) was nominated for the 2013 Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature. In 2014, the Board of Governors for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented him with an Honorary Oscar® for Lifetime Achievement.

Born in 1935 in Mie Prefecture, Japan. After graduating from The University of Tokyo with a degree in French literature, he joined Toei Animation Company. He debuted as a director with the animated TV series Ken, The Wild Boy (1963 – 1965), and directed his first animated feature film, The Little Norse Prince Valiant (1968). He left Toei in 1971 and worked at various studios such as A Production, Zuiyo Eizo and Nippon Animation, and directed many popular TV series including Lupin the Third (first series, 1971 – 1972), Heidi, A Girl of the Alps (1974), From the Apennines to the Andes (1976), and Anne of Green Gables (1979), and feature films such as Panda! Go Panda! (1972), Jarinko Chie (1981) and Gauche The Cellist (1981).

Takahata co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985 with Hayao Miyazaki, and has directed five feature films since: Grave of the Fireflies (1988), Only Yesterday (1991), Pom Poko (1994), which received the Feature Film Prize at Annecy International Animation Film Festival in 1995, My Neighbors The Yamadas (1999), which was chosen by The Museum of Modern Art in New York for its film collection, the first Japanese animated feature film to be so honored, and his new film, The Tale of The Princess Kaguya, released in November 2013 in Japan. He served as producer for Hayao Miyazaki’s films Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) and Castle in the Sky (1986). He also directed the live action documentary The Story of Yanagawa Waterways (1987).

He has been involved in a variety of other projects. To name but a few, he has participated in the creation of the Japanese versions of foreign animated films such as Paul Grimault’s Le Roi et L’Oiseau and Michel Ocelot’s Kirikou et la Sorcière and Azur et Asmar. He has also published a number of books including “Jyu-ni Seiki no Animation (12th Century Animation – Film and Animation Techniques as Seen in Kokuho Emaki Scrolls, 1999)”, “Ichimai no E kara (From One Piece of Art, 2009)”; essays on Japanese and foreign fine art; and the Japanese edition of “Paroles” (2004) by Jacques Prévert. He has also served as a professor at Nihon University College of Art. In 1998, Takahata received Japan's Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon. He was awarded with the Honor-ific Leopard at Locarno International Film Festival in 2009.

Born in 1948 in Nagoya, Japan. Toshio Suzuki graduated from Keio University with a degree in Literature in 1972, and joined the publishing company Tokuma Shoten Co., Ltd. After working for the weekly magazine “Asahi Geino”, Suzuki co-founded the monthly animation magazine “Animage”. While working as its vice editor, and later chief editor, for the magazine, he took part in the production of films by Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki, including Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Grave of the Fireflies, and My Neighbor Totoro. He participated in the founding of Studio Ghibli in 1985, and has worked full-time at the Studio since 1989. Thereafter, Suzuki produced almost all Studio Ghibli theatrical films. He is currently producer of executive director of Studio Ghibli.