Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

(1984) dir Hayao Miyazaki w/Sumi Shimamoto, Goro Naya, Yôji Matsuda, Yoshiko Sakakibara, Iemasa Kayumi  [117 min; 35mm] In Japanese with English subtitles

A recurring theme in the works of the great Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki is the need for humans to live in harmony with nature… or face the consequences. In this early masterpiece, Miyazaki imagines a fantasy world devastated by an ancient war that created a vast toxic jungle. One person, Princess Nausicaä, dares to try and live harmoniously with the dangerous creatures spawned there – and unknowingly sparks the fulfilment of a prophecy.