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1920s – today

Animation and Puppet Film

Directors who build whole worlds frame by frame, from stop-motion and puppet surrealism to hand-drawn and digital animation made by tiny teams.

Animation gives directors complete control over a world, built frame by frame, and it ranges far beyond children's films. Disney's Snow White (1937) showed that animation could carry a feature, and Japan's Studio Ghibli, led by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, made richly human fantasies. Satoshi Kon, Katsuhiro Otomo and Makoto Shinkai added dream-like, science-fiction and romantic worlds, while Jan Švankmajer's stop-motion nightmares and Ari Folman's Waltz with Bashir showed animation as a tool for the unconscious and for memory. Gints Zilbalodis' Flow (2024) won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

Where
United States, Japan, Czech Republic, France, Latvia and elsewhere
When
1920s to the present
Key figures
Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, Jan Švankmajer, Satoshi Kon, Katsuhiro Otomo, Makoto Shinkai, Gints Zilbalodis
Landmark films
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Akira (1988), Spirited Away (2001), Flow (2024)
Legacy
Showed that animation is a full art form, with its own subjects and styles

What to look for

  • Hand-drawn, stop-motion, puppet or digital worlds built frame by frame
  • Fantasy, dream and memory as natural subjects
  • Total control of design, colour and movement

Famous Directors

Jan ŠvankmajerCzech Republic (Czechoslovakia)Hayao MiyazakiJapanGints ZilbalodisLatviaBen SharpsteenUSAJames AlgarUSAWilfred JacksonUSAIsao TakahataJapanKatsuhiro OtomoJapanSatoshi KonJapanMakoto ShinkaiJapanAri FolmanIsrael

Top films · 59 films

  1. Spirited Away 2001 · Hayao Miyazaki · IMDb 8.6
  2. Grave of the Fireflies 1988 · Isao Takahata · IMDb 8.5
  3. Your Name 2016 · Makoto Shinkai · IMDb 8.4
  4. Princess Mononoke 1997 · Hayao Miyazaki · IMDb 8.3
  5. Howl's Moving Castle 2004 · Hayao Miyazaki · IMDb 8.2
  6. Dimensions of Dialogue 1982 · Jan Švankmajer · IMDb 8.1
  7. My Neighbor Totoro 1988 · Hayao Miyazaki · IMDb 8.1
  8. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya 2013 · Isao Takahata · IMDb 8.0
  9. Akira 1988 · Katsuhiro Otomo · IMDb 8.0
  10. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind 1984 · Hayao Miyazaki · IMDb 8.0
  11. Castle in the Sky 1986 · Hayao Miyazaki · IMDb 8.0
  12. Perfect Blue 1997 · Satoshi Kon · IMDb 8.0
  13. Waltz with Bashir 2008 · Ari Folman · IMDb 8.0
  14. Kiki's Delivery Service 1989 · Hayao Miyazaki · IMDb 7.8
  15. The Wind Rises 2013 · Hayao Miyazaki · IMDb 7.8
  16. Flow 2024 · Gints Zilbalodis · IMDb 7.8
  17. Millennium Actress 2001 · Satoshi Kon · IMDb 7.8
  18. Tokyo Godfathers 2003 · Satoshi Kon · IMDb 7.8
  19. Porco Rosso 1992 · Hayao Miyazaki · IMDb 7.7
  20. Paprika 2006 · Satoshi Kon · IMDb 7.7
  21. The Flat 1968 · Jan Švankmajer · IMDb 7.6
  22. Only Yesterday 1991 · Isao Takahata · IMDb 7.6
  23. Ponyo 2008 · Hayao Miyazaki · IMDb 7.6
  24. Suzume 2022 · Makoto Shinkai · IMDb 7.6
  25. Weathering with You 2019 · Makoto Shinkai · IMDb 7.5
  26. Pinocchio 1940 · Ben Sharpsteen · IMDb 7.4
  27. Alice (1988) 1988 · Jan Švankmajer · IMDb 7.4
  28. 5 Centimeters per Second 2007 · Makoto Shinkai · IMDb 7.4
  29. The Garden of Words 2013 · Makoto Shinkai · IMDb 7.4
  30. The Living Desert 1953 · James Algar · IMDb 7.3
  31. Cinderella (1950) 1950 · Wilfred Jackson · IMDb 7.3
  32. Alice in Wonderland 1951 · Wilfred Jackson · IMDb 7.3
  33. Lady and the Tramp 1955 · Wilfred Jackson · IMDb 7.3
  34. Faust (1994) 1994 · Jan Švankmajer · IMDb 7.3
  35. Conspirators of Pleasure 1996 · Jan Švankmajer · IMDb 7.3
  36. Little Otik 2000 · Jan Švankmajer · IMDb 7.3
  37. The Boy and the Heron 2023 · Hayao Miyazaki · IMDb 7.3
  38. Dumbo 1941 · Ben Sharpsteen · IMDb 7.2
  39. Peter Pan 1953 · Wilfred Jackson · IMDb 7.2
  40. Surviving Life 2010 · Jan Švankmajer · IMDb 7.2
  41. Pom Poko 1994 · Isao Takahata · IMDb 7.2
  42. The Vanishing Prairie 1954 · James Algar · IMDb 7.1
  43. Lunacy 2005 · Jan Švankmajer · IMDb 7.1
  44. My Neighbors the Yamadas 1999 · Isao Takahata · IMDb 7.1
  45. Voices of a Distant Star 2002 · Makoto Shinkai · IMDb 7.0
  46. Saint Clara 1996 · Ari Folman · IMDb 6.9
  47. Steamboy 2004 · Katsuhiro Otomo · IMDb 6.8
  48. The Place Promised in Our Early Days 2004 · Makoto Shinkai · IMDb 6.8
  49. Away 2019 · Gints Zilbalodis · IMDb 6.7
  50. Made in Israel 2001 · Ari Folman · IMDb 6.4
  51. The Congress 2013 · Ari Folman · IMDb 6.4
  52. Where Is Anne Frank 2021 · Ari Folman · IMDb 6.4
  53. Mushishi 2006 · Katsuhiro Otomo · IMDb 6.0
  54. World Apartment Horror 1991 · Katsuhiro Otomo · IMDb 5.9
  55. The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun 1968 · Isao Takahata
  56. Combustible 2013 · Katsuhiro Otomo
  57. The Castle of Cagliostro 1979 · Hayao Miyazaki
  58. In Beaver Valley 1950 · James Algar
  59. Insects 2018 · Jan Švankmajer