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Anime Classics Part 2

Grave of the Fireflies

+ intro by Alex Dudok de Wit, author of BFI Film Classics: Grave of the Fireflies

Hotaru no Haka

Studio Ghibli’s anti-war masterpiece is a stark but beautifully made classic.

  • Director

    Isao Takahata

  • With the voices of

    Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Yoshiko Shinohara

  • Japan 1988. 89min

  • Digital

  • Certificate

    12A

  • English subtitles

Brother and sister, Seita and Setsuko, are left homeless after their village is bombed in 1945, and they’re forced to find ways to survive with few resources and little hope. A true masterpiece, this is a devastating and unexpected piece that doesn’t pull any punches in its depiction of a country at war, and of a family desperate to stay together at all costs.

See another screening of this film.

Also available on BFI Player