Founded in 1985, the studio is headed by the acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki along with his faithful companion Isao Takahata, as well as the studio's executive managing director and long-time producer Toshio Suzuki. Its origins date back to 1984, with the film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, which was popularized as a serialized manga in a publication of Tokuma Shoten's Animage magazine after the original screenplay was rejected. The film was eventually produced by Topcraft and the film's success spurred the formation of Ghibli. Much of Ghibli's works are distributed in Japan by the noted film distributor Toho. Tokuma is the parent company of Studio Ghibli, and it has provided the Walt Disney Company with the video rights to all of Ghibli's output that did not have previous international distribution, including the global, non-Japan distribution rights to Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. Miyazaki's film, Howl's Moving Castle, was based on a book by British author Diana Wynne Jones, published in several countries including Canada and the United States. Composer Joe Hisaishi has provided the soundtrack for all of Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli films.

The most famous and lauded film from the studio that was not directed by Miyazaki is Grave of the Fireflies, directed by Isao Takahata, a film focusing on the lives of two war orphans towards the end of the Second World War in Japan.

The company is well-known for its strict "no-edits" policy in licensing their films abroad. This was a result of the dubbing of Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind when the film was released in the United States as Warriors of the Wind. The film was heavily edited and americanized, with significant portions cut and the plot rewritten. The "no cuts" policy was highlighted when Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein suggested editing Princess Mononoke to make it more marketable. In response, a Studio Ghibli producer sent an authentic katana with a simple message: "No cuts".

On February 1, 2008, Toshio Suzuki stepped down from the position of Studio Ghibli president which he held since 2005, and Koji Hoshino (former president of Walt Disney Japan) took over. Suzuki said he wanted to improve films with his own hands as a producer, rather than demanding this from his employees. He has revealed that Takahata and Goro Miyazaki (director of Tales from Earthsea and Hayao's son) are developing projects for release after Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo. Suzuki decided to hand over the presidency to Hoshino because Hoshino has helped Studio Ghibli sell its videos since 1996, as well as helped to release the Princess Mononoke film in the United States

Kaze no Tani no Nausicaä
1984-(Hayao Miyazaki)
Length: 116 minutes
(Based on the manga of the same title.)

Summary:In the post-apocalyptic future, large parts of the world have been swallowed up by forests of poisonous fungi. The remaining humans live near the fungus and its monstrous insectoid inhabitants, trying to prevent its spread. One of the human kingdoms, the peaceful Valley of Wind, loves its gentle Princess Nausicaä and her father the king, but their peace is about to be broken, as they are swallowed up in the machinations of their larger, warmongering neighbours. However, Nausicaä has hidden potential, and may yet change the fate of the world.
Link to Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_rtIcyqssA

Tenkū no Shiro Laputa
1986-(Hayao Miyazaki)
Length:124 minutes

Summary: A girl named Sheeta falls out of the sky and lands in Pazu's arms. Soon after a gang of air pirates led by Dola, as well as a mysterious man named Muska, are on their tails. The chase leads them to a floating castle that once belonged to an ancient race of people.
Link to Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uyrx3iI2uRc

Tonari no Totoro
1988-(Hayao Miyazaki)
Length:86 minutes

Summary: My Neighbour Totoro is one of Miyazaki's best-loved films. Totoro is a forest spirit that little Mei, and later her older sister Satsuki, encounter in a giant camphor tree near their new home in the countryside. Although their father, a university professor, is with them when they move, their mother is in the hospital, recovering from some unnamed illness. When Mei hears that her mother's condition may be worsening, she resolves to visit her all by herself. When everyone realizes she's missing, only Totoro knows how to find her!
Link to Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp9PDj_zb1k
Other cool links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrLnzJPESwg(Hey Let's Go - Totoro)

Howl no Ugoku Shiro
2004 (Hayao Miyazaki)
Length:118 minutes
(Based on Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones)

Summary: Howl's Moving Castle follows the story of young Sophie Hatter, a bookworm, the eldest of three daughters, a girl doomed to an uninteresting life as a hat maker. Sophie resigns herself to her boring fate, but fate has other plans for her. Cursed by the Witch of the Waste with the body of a 90-year-old woman, she finds her way to the moving castle inhabited by the wizard Howl, said by all to eat the souls of young girls.
Link to Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57r9jjqzJJk
Other cool links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5tTiYT1cgU(Joe Hisaishi Live performance - Howl Moving Castle Main them)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxckivtgTfs(Jinseino Merry Go Round Music Box)

Hotaru No Haka
1988-(Isao Takahata)
Length:88 minutes

Summary: A very somber film about the struggle of two children to survive during World War II. Seita and his younger sister Setsuko are left to fend for themselves when their mother passes away from severe burns inflicted by the American fire-bombing of their town. Their father is serving in the Japanese navy, but the children have not heard from him in a long time, so Seita and Setsuko try staying with a distant relative. However, Seita doesn't get along well with this relative and decides to leave, taking Setsuko with him, to live on their own.
Link to Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q8w1JWRtEQ

Majo no Takkyuubin
1989-(Hayao Miyazaki)
Length:102 minutes
(Based on the book by Eiko Kadono)

Summary: Kiki's Deliver Service tells the story of Kiki, a 13-year old witch. When a witch turns 13, it is traditional for her to move away from home to spend a year in another city or town where there is no witch already living, so that she can learn to be independent and practice her trade.

This is Kiki's story of the beginning of her year away from home. She and her black cat Jiji run into a little trouble at first, but they soon make friends in their new city by the sea.
Link to Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dkLobz4bpw
Other cool links:
http://www.imeem.com/fallenxstar/music/ciNpvZKA/sydney-forest-soaring/(song from begining)
http://www.imeem.com/fallenxstar/music/0Y9MemBh/sydney-forest-im-gonna-fly/(song from end)

Omohide Poro Poro
1991-(Isao Takahata)
Length:118 minutes

Summary: Taeko Okajima is a typical "office lady" in a big company in a big city. When she takes a sabbatical to the countryside in Yamagata Prefecture, the hometown of her brother-in-law, the journey recalled her memory of her 5th grade year. During her stay in Yamagata, she works hard and happily as a farmer and is surrounded by friendly relatives and villagers, bringing up more memories. Their hospitality makes her to reconsider her choice of life.
Link to Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9WNAcPcIGY

Kurenai no Buta
1992-(Hayao Miyazaki)
Length:93 minutes
(Based on Miyazaki's manga, Hikoutei Jidai)

Summary: During the beginning years of the Great Depression, life in the Mediterranean has become difficult. Aerial pirate raids are gaining in frequency, thus requiring the need for capable "bodyguards". One of the best is a pig known as Porco Rosso. Once a human and an ace pilot during World War I, he now freelances his services to those in distress. The fascist regime that has taken over the Italian Air Force has grown tiresome of his exploits and places a bounty on his head. On top of that, a hotshot flyer from the United States arrives and not only wants to steal Porco Rosso's glory, but also the woman he loves so dearly.

(It was first planned as a 30-45 minutes in-flight movie on Japan Airlines. It's been described as "a movie which tired businessmen on international flights can enjoy even with their minds dulled due to lack of oxygen.")
Link to Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98RjgQMO4kM

Umi ga Kikoeru
1993
Length:72 minutes
(Based on the novel of the same title by Saeko Himuro)

Summary: Ocean Waves is high school love story set in Kochi, Japan. Morisaku Taku and Matsuno Yutaka are best friends when a girl from Tokyo named Muto Rikako transfers to their school. Excluding herself from group activities, she’s eventually labeled a snob. Matsuno has a crush on Rikako, so it’s no surprise that he gets a little jealous when Morisaku and Rikako start spending more time together. The rumors around school get worse, but Morisaku still insists there is nothing between him and Rikako.

Heisei Tanuki Gassen Ponpoko
1994-(Hayao Miyazaki)
Length:118 minutes

Summary: As civilisation draws ever nearer to their idyllic forest home, a group of mischievous Japanese tanuki raccoons try to scare humans away. But they soon discover that humans are not their only rivals in the struggle for their age-old territory.

Released in 1994 as the Japanese economy slumped, but looking back to the sixties construction boom in Tokyo’s Tama Hills, Pom Poko questions the money-grabbing ethics of yuppie Japan, and mourns the loss of the countryside. Drawing on Japanese myths and legends, writer and director Isao Takahata presents a satirical view of woodland spirits using every available magical ruse to take on modern developers: including transformations, sabotage and trickery.

Pom Poko is a unique window into Japanese folklore, a comedy of modern failings, and an elegiac tale of unlikely heroes fighting insurmountable odds.
Link to Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AguqhItuPsk

1995-(Hayao Miyazaki)
Length:6 minutes 50 seconds

A music film, directed by Miyazaki for the Japanese pop music artists Chage & Aska. It double-featured with Whisper of the Heart at the film's theatrical debut.

Summary:In the future, mankind can no longer live on the ground due to intense radiation, both from the sun and from abandoned nuclear plants. One day, a group of special police raided a religious cult compound, and after fierce firefights two policemen found a winged mutant girl, with chains on her arms, barely alive. However, government scientists dressed in hazardous material suits immediately intervened and brought her to a research facility. Realizing they were merely transferring her from one prison to another, the two policemen formulated a daring plan to set her free once and for all.
Link to Music Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laNYrloc2Rc

Mimi wo Sumaseba
1995
Length:133 minutes
(Based on the manga by Aoi Hiiragi)

Summary: Shizuku Tsukishima, a young girl in junior high, loves to read. Yet, every time she opens a library book, it seems the same name appears on the cards: "Seiji Amasawa". As Shizuku learns who this person is, she also begins to learn about herself and her goals in life - a discovery that will change her life forever.
Link to Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5WL5Pzi7Wo
Other cool links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEI_5VRJRGo(Country Roads Japanese Version- From Movie)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2buabzZIF8(Country Roads English Version- From Movie)

Mononoke Hime
1997-(Hayao Miyazaki)
Length:133 minutes

Summary:Set during the Muromachi Period (1333-1568) of Japan. Princes Mononoke is the tale of a mystical fight between humans and the Animal Gods of the forest.

On the side of the Animal Gods is San (the Mononoke-Hime), a human girl raised by the wolf god Moro. On the side of the humans is Lady Eboshi (Eboshi-Gozen), building a kingdom for oppressed people by cutting down the forest for her iron-making operation.

In the midst of this fight for survival, Ashitaka, the last prince of a dying race, struggles to find a way for both sides to co-exist. But the fighting only becomes more and more bloody and all hope seems to be lost…
Link to Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkWWWKKA8jY

1999
Length:104 minutes

Summary: Based on Hisaichi Ishii's comic strip Tonari no Yamada-kun, this film is about the daily lives of the Yamada family: Takashi and Matsuko (the father and mother), Shige (Matsuko's mother), Noboru (the son), Nonoko (the daughter), and Pochi (the family dog). The comic is currently serialized in the Asahi Shinbun (see a sample of the comic), though it has been renamed Nono-chan.

Takahata wanted Yamada-kun to have the art style of watercolor pictures (see above) rather than cel pictures. To achieve that, the traditional paint-on-cel techniques were replaced with digital technology, making Yamada-kun the first Ghibli movie to be painted and animated entirely on computers.
Link to Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H64k8EKuKU

Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi
2001 (Hayao Miyazaki)
Length:124 minutes

For the people who used to be 10 years old,
and the people who are going to be 10 years old."
--Hayao Miyazaki

Summary: A fantasy adventure with a ten year-old girl, which starts in everyday Japan but goes somewhere very different. For young Chihiro and her family, a mysterious tunnel and haunted town lead to the Land of Spirits, inhabited by gods and monsters and ruled by the greedy witch Yu-baba. Chihiro's parents are transformed into pigs; to rescue them, she must surrender her name and serve in this world. Luckily she finds friends and allies, including the handsome but mysterious boy Haku. Initially sulky and listless, Chihiro (or Sen, as she's now called) finds inner strengths and establishes an identity in this strange world. But can she win back her name and return home?
Link to Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6az9wGfeSgM
Other cool links:
http://www.imeem.com/artists/joe_hisaishi/album/xZTD1GGu/spirited-away-album/(Spirited Away Movie Soundtrack)

Neko no Ongaeshi
2002
Length:75 minutes
(Based on Neko no Danshaku, Baron by Aoi Hiiragi)

Summary:Haru-chan, a normal girl in a normal town, saves a strange cat carrying a present from being overrun by a truck. In return she's going to receive lots of favors, including marriage to the crown prince of Cat Kingdom. As she finds that a bit too much, she gets into contact with the Cat Business Office. Together with CBO's owner, the Baron, she enters the Cat Kingdom to try and prevent her marriage.
Link to Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mck0zdooulA

Gedo Senki
2006
Length:110 minutes
(Based on the book series by Ursula K. Le Guin.)

Summary: Something bizarre has come over the land. The kingdom is deteriorating. People are beginning to act strange... What's even more strange is that people are beginning to see dragons, which shouldn't enter the world of humans. Due to all these bizarre events, Ged, a wandering wizard, is investigating the cause. During his journey, he meets Prince Arren, a young distraught teenage boy. While Arren may look like a shy young teen, he has a severe dark side, which grants him strength, hatred, ruthlessness and has no mercy, especially when it comes to protecting Teru. For the witch Kumo this is a perfect opportunity. She can use the boy's "fears" against the very one who would help him, Ged
Link to Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05sCTxnEs9Y
other cool links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NsTcRidSms(Teru's Song Japanese Version- From Movie)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7988h64VtE(Teru's Song English Version- From Movie)

Gake no Ue no Ponyo
2008 (Hayao Miyazaki)
Length:100 minutes

Summary: A young boy, Sōsuke, befriends a strange looking goldfish whom he names Ponyo. Unbeknownst to Sōsuke, Ponyo is a magic fish who has decided that she wants to live with Sōsuke and the other humans. Unfortunately, Ponyo's decision to give up her underwater life creates a crack in an ancient magic spell, and places the world in danger. Together, Sōsuke and Ponyo must set things right.

(The 13th animated feature film directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Has been released in U.S. theaters.)
Link to Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BfNtYF94cQ
Other cool Links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FX82kFE4KxY(The Ponyo Theme Song by Frankie Jonas And Noah Cyrus)

"Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea will be released in cinemas nationwide on February 5th 2010. The DVD will be released in mid June 2010. Whether or not it will be released on Blu-ray is yet to be confirmed."
*UK release date pushed back to February 12th 2010*

Karigurashi no Arietti
17 July 2010 (Hiromasa Yonebayashi)
Length: 100 minutes (Planned)
(Adaptation of Mary Norton's 1952 novel "The Borrowers")

Summary: The story will take place in 2010 in Koganei, western Tokyo and like the novel will revolve around a group of creatures that live under the floorboards. (Full summary upon release)

(This will be the directorial debut of Studio Ghibli animator Hiromasa Yonebayashi, who will be the youngest person to direct a film for Ghibli. Hayao Miyazaki will be supervising the production as a developing planner.)
Link to Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH3XAJFhSaA (Japanese)