Awards dinner takes place on January 12

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) announced on Tuesday that it will grant a Career Achievement Award to anime director Hayao Miayazaki. The organization's annual awards dinner will take place at the InterContinental Hotel in Century City, California on January 12.

LAFCA president Claudia Puig explained in announcing the honor, "The way in which Miyazaki inspires an audience's sense of wonder is unmatched. I particularly admire his depiction of self-sufficient, determined and courageous female characters who don't need saving. He has explained his cinematic approach simply: 'Any woman is just as capable of being a hero as any man.' These words resonate more powerfully than ever in our current times."

Miyazaki rose to prominence in the 1970s on such television anime series as Lupin III, Future Boy Conan, and Sherlock Hound. He directed his first feature film, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, in 1979. He then adapted the beginning of his Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind manga into an anime film in 1984, before he and fellow director Isao Takahata founded Studio Ghibli.

With Ghibli, Miyazaki helmed the feature films Laputa - Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo, and most recently, 2013's The Wind Rises. He also co-produced Takahata's directorial efforts and directed smaller projects such as the "experimental film" On Your Mark and Ghibli Museum shorts such as Mei and the Kitten Bus and Mr. Dough and the Egg Princess.

Spirited Away, which opened in 2001, remains the highest-earning film ever at the Japanese box office. The film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Film in 2003.

Miyazaki announced his retirement from directing feature films in 2013, but he is now working on the Kimi-tachi wa Dō Ikiru ka (How Do You Live?) feature film, which Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki said in August would open in "about three or four years." Miyazaki also debuted a new CG-animated short titled "Kemushi no Boro" (Boro the Caterpillar) at the Ghibli Museum this year.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter (Gregg Kilday)