Koji Hoshino, the president of Studio Ghibli, has announced that the legendary co-founder of the prestigious animation studio will retire after he completes his new film, The Wind Rises. Hoshino made the announcement at the Venice Film Festival; he didn’t go into too much detail, but stated that Miyazaki is retiring from feature-length films. 

It is likely that Miyazaki will remain a presence in the studio, consulting on all its major released but handing over the majority of control to other directors such as his son Goro Miyazaki (Tales from Earthsea) and fellow Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata (The Tale of Princess Kaguya).

The 72-year-old director has worked at Studio Ghibli for over fifty years, creating some the the studios most memorable on-screen adventures, including Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and Ponyo. He is an inspirational influence on animation, and hopefully we’ll see more of Miyazaki-san outside of feature films.