The Florida Film Critic Circle (FCC) announced their 2024 awards winners on December 21, with The Boy and the Heron winning the award for Best Picture. This award has made the movie the first-ever animated film to get an award for Best Picture in the history of FCC. On top of this, this is also the highest recognition earned so far by this organization. The Boy and the Heron also took the award home for Best Animated Film and Best Score for Joe Hisashi’s music.
Previously, the movie has won several other awards as well in the San Diego Film Critic Society, US: the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Boston Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics Circle Awards, Dallas Forth-Worth Film Critics Association, Chicago Film Critics Association, and Philadelphia Film Critics Circle. If this wasn’t enough, The Boy and the Heron also won the Best Foreign Film award in Philadelphia Critics Circle. GKIDS also created an infographic to highlight them all:
Moreover, Deadline revealed that The Boy and the Heron has also been nominated for 2023’s London Critics Circle award show. The movie was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year and Best Animated Film, along with Makoto Shinkai’s Suzume. The Boy and the Heron is the most recent movie by Hayao Miyazaki, which was animated by Studio Ghibli. It initially launched in Japan in July and saw an international premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.
The film began screening in North American cinemas in English-subbed and dubbed versions on December 8. The film was recently nominated for Best Original Score for Joe Hisashi and Best Animated Motion Picture, along with Makoto Shinkai’s Suzume for the Golden Globe Awards. Furthermore, the movie is currently competing for the Best Music award at the 96th Academy Awards (Oscar).
What is The Boy and the Heron about?
Following the death of his mother during the war, the movie’s protagonist, Mahito, moves to his family’s state located in the countryside. Once there, a series of strange and mysterious events keep occurring that take him to a secluded and ancient tower that’s home to a gray heron. When Mahito’s new stepmother vanishes, he follows the gray heron who takes him into a tower.
He enters a wonderful world whose residents are both the living and the dead. He begins his exciting journey with the heron by his side as his guide, Mahito is forced to uncover the world’s secrets, eventually finding out the truth about himself. The Boy and the Heron has gained plenty of positive reviews from both viewers and critics.
