Studio Ghibli's Isao Takahata To Receive Lifetime Achievement Annie Award

Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata will be honored with the Winsor McCay Award for Lifetime Achievement at the 43d Annie Awards on Feb. 6.

Takahata started Studio Ghibli, alongside Hayao Miyazaki, and has directed films such as Grave of the Fireflies, Pom Poko, and The Tale of Princess Kaguya, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film. His 1991 film Only Yesterday will be released in North America for the first time on Feb. 26, with Star Wars: The Force Awakens star Daisy Ridley voicing the film's protagonist for the English language dubbing.

While Miyazaki has entered semi-retirement, the 80-year-old Takahata told Variety that he is still working on multiple projects.

"I have several projects that I still have in mind that I am currently working on to get closer to realizing, Takahata said. "Whether those will be finalized as films is something that no one, myself included, can know."

The Annie Awards honor excellence in animation. This year's nominees include Ghibli's When Marnie Was There, which was nominated in the new category Best Animated Feature-Independent, and the film's writer/director Hiromasa Yonebayashi has been nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Writing and Outstanding Achievement in Directing.