TFF’s Sunday at the Palm: “From Up On Poppy Hill”

23 Sep TFF’s Sunday at the Palm: “From Up On Poppy Hill”

The Telluride Film Festival’s Sunday at the Palm series presents a film from Goro Miyazaki and his father, animation great Hayao Miyazaki, who just announced this month that he will retire from filmmaking after a long and influential career. This father-son collaboration, “From Up On Poppy Hill,” is a tender story of a girl growing up in the beautiful seaside village of Yokahama, Japan.

“Visual magic,” wrote A.O. Scott of the New York Times. 

Umi is juggling her many roles as a teenager: she is a student, a caretaker for her siblings, and is also coming to terms with the death of her father. Her country is still recovering from the effects of World War II and simultaneously looking toward the future as they prepare for the 1964 Olympic Games. Doing her part to improve her community, Umi and her friend Shun are making plans to renovate a clubhouse despite its plans for demolition.

“More than any Studio Ghibli film, ‘From Up on Poppy Hill’ embodies a specific time and place and captures the emotional landscape of its setting,” wrote GKids, distributors for the film’s U.S. release, “The sense of yearning and new possibility is palpable (the upbeat mood is set perfectly by the period pop music), evoking both a wide-eyed hope for the future, and an aching nostalgia for a past that can never be recovered.”

Sunday, September 29, 4:00 p.m. ● Michael D. Palm Theatre for the Performing Arts  Rated PG ● FREE TO ALL ● Running time 91 minutes

For a preview, watch this trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-vfzhfq5JA