Interview: Studio Ghibli's Geoffrey Wexler Talks About "The Wind Rises"

It is a rare chance indeed to be able to meet an executive from the Japanese animation film outfit, Studio Ghibli, founded by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata.

Through the years, the animated movies from Studio Ghibli, like "My Neighbour Totoro", "Princess Mononoke", "Grave of the Fireflies" and "Spirited Away", have touched the hearts of audiences all around the world, despite language and cultural differences.

Yesterday morning, in view of the local premiere of Oscar-nominated "The Wind Rises" on March 19, Red Dot Diva had the opportunity to interview Geoffrey Wexler - Chief of International Division from Studio Ghibli, and one of the Executive Producers of the English language version of "The Wind Rises".

"The Wind Rises" - purportedly Hayao Miyazaki's latest and last film - is a tale about the life of aeronautical engineer Jiro Horikoshi, and his legacy of a killing flying machine - the Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter used during World War II. The long awaited English-dubbed version features well-known voice actors like Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci.

Held in a cozy meeting room at the swanky Fullerton Hotel, a very warm and knowledgeable Geoffrey Wexler (or Jeff, for short) shared about "The Wind Rises" as well as his insights on Studio Ghibli and the animation industry.

Abe Kwang And Gordon Chan Chat About "The Mural" at Screen Singapore

"The Mural" concept poster

For those who were invited to Screen Singapore's gala premiere on opening night, 1 minute was all they got for "The Mural" 's trailer.

When news was released that director Gordon Chan was doing a follow-up to the successful "Painted Skin" (画皮), "The Mural" (画壁) became one of the most highly-anticipated Chinese movie this year. This was especially after knowing that "The Mural" was going to be a action-romance-fantasy film set in a magical fairy land, involving over 2,000 special effects shots.

As it always happens on opening nights, the screening of "The Mural" teaser faced with an initial sound glitch! Red Dot Diva asks, who released those nasty Gremlins in GV Vivocity, huh? Anyway, it was quickly re-screened again so that the audience could take in the fast-moving images for another time.