Studio Ghibli Gem “Whisper of the Heart” Gets Special Screenings

Whisper of the Heart is one of the lesser-known Studio Ghibli offerings, but still had a major impact. Written by master Hayao Miyazaki and directed by Yoshifumi Kondo, the 1995 film is about Shizuku, a teenage girl with an overactive imagination. It was sadly Kondo's only film before his death.

But its legacy lives on, and it was a major influence on many animators, including Steven Universe creator Rebecca Sugar. As part of GKIDS' Studio Ghibli Fest 2019, the film will hold two separate nationwide screenings, featuring a special intro from Sugar. The English-dubbed version, featuring Brittany Snow as Shizuku, will show at 7pm local time on Monday, July 1. The original subtitled version follows the next day, also at 7pm local time.

Tickets can be purchased online at the Fathom Events or Ghibli Fest websites, as well as your local theater's box office.

About Kip Mooney

Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.