Pixar artist does his part to save Totoro's forest

by Chris MaGee

It's absolutely no secret that anime direct Hayao Miyazaki is an advocate and lover of nature. If you haven't already steeped yourself in his films (shame on you!) then just pick up "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind" or "Princess Mononoke" to see what I mean; but Miyazaki puts his money where his mouth is. In 1990 he started the Totoro Forest Foundation, an organization dedicated to preserving Sayama Forest, 8750 acres of woodland just outside of Tokyo and the inspiration for the Miyazaki classic "My Neighbour Totoro". 18 years and $3 million raised later Sayama Forest is still standing, but not without difficuly, so a group of animators and artists headed up by Pixar story board artist Enrico Casarosa have organized the "Totoro Forest Project" a charity auction of 200 pieces of orginal art that will take place at the Pixar Studios on September 6th with all money going directly to Miyazaki's not-for-profit organization.

For more details check out the Totoro Forest Project website here. Thanks to the folks at Ghibli World for the original report.