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DUBAI: Japanese movies “The Boy and the Heron” and “Perfect Days,” as well as Japanese director Takashi Yamazaki, received Academy Award nominations on Tuesday. 

The Academy Awards, known as the Oscars, are awards handed to creatives in the film industry annually. It is scheduled to take place in Hollywood on March 10. 

Directed by Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki, “The Boy and the Heron” received a nomination for Best Animated Feature Film.

Considered one of the most-anticipated releases of 2023 and the most expensive movie ever produced in Japan,  the animated film follows the journey of 12-year-old Mahito as he enters an abandoned town to search for his mother after a heron informs him that she is still alive. 

The movie won a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film and was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film. 

The movie is nominated alongside the Disney movie “Elemental,” the Netflix movie “Nimona,” the Spanish-French movie “Robot Dreams,” as well as “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.”

Moreover, the Japanese-German co-production “Perfect Days” is nominated for Best International Feature Film. 

The drama movie follows toilet cleaner Hirayama, portrayed by Koji Yakusho, as he goes through a variety of unexpected encounters that reveal parts of his past. The actor won the award for Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023. 

Directed by the German director Wim Wenders, it is considered the first movie not directed by a Japanese filmmaker to be nominated as a Japanese entry. 

The movie is nominated alongside the Italian movie “Io Capitano,” the Spanish movie “Society of the Snow,” the German movie “The Teachers’ Lounge,” and the British movie “The Zone of Interest.”

Additionally, Japanese filmmaker and visual effects supervisor Takashi Yamazaki is nominated for Best Visual Effects for his work on the Japanese movie “Godzilla Minus One,” making him and his crew the first Japanese production team to receive a nomination in that category. 

Yamazaki has previously won six Japanese Academy Awards, three Asian Film Awards, and three Hochi Film Awards. He has worked on a variety of notable titles, such as “The Eternal Zero” and ” Stand by Me Doraemon.”

Japanese-born American special effects artist Kazu Hiro also received a nomination for Best Makeup and Hairstyling for his work on the American movie “Maestro.”

Hiro has previously won the same award in 2017 and 2019 for his work in “Darkest Hour” and “Bombshell.”