Three years after The Boy and the Heron became the studio's most recent feature, Studio Ghibli is back with something altogether smaller and more intimate.
A Night in the Valley of Witches, co-directed by Goro Miyazaki and Akihiko Yamashita, premiered on July 8 at Cinema Orion inside Ghibli's Grand Warehouse at Ghibli Park. It is the first original short animated film the studio has produced specifically for the park. Set within the Valley of Witches area, the story draws on a section of the park that opened in 2024 with recreations of worlds from Kiki's Delivery Service, Howl's Moving Castle, and Earwig and the Witch.
Where to Watch
Good luck catching this one from your couch. The short will not be shown anywhere outside Ghibli Park and requires attendance, a reservation, and a ticket to enter Ghibli's Grand Warehouse. The park sits in Nagakute City within Aichi Prefecture, about an hour from central Nagoya by rail. Cinema Orion is already popular for screening rarely seen Ghibli short films, and this new addition slots neatly into that tradition.
A special opening day event featured both directors, who shared behind-the-scenes production insights with an audience limited to 150 guests. Ticket reservations for July admissions opened on May 10.
The Story
Plot details remain largely under wraps, though the official Ghibli Park website has offered a first look at the short's main characters. What is known is that the narrative unfolds after dark inside the park's enchanted witch quarter.
Production is already finished, though the park has not disclosed the film's runtime.
The Directors
Goro Miyazaki, eldest son of Hayao Miyazaki, began his career in landscape architecture before becoming the first director of the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka.
He transitioned to animation with Tales from Earthsea in 2006, then directed From Up on Poppy Hill, the TV series Ronja, the Robber's Daughter, and Earwig and the Witch. Outside filmmaking, he has been deeply involved in the creative direction of Ghibli Park itself.
His co-director carries a different kind of weight. If any animator could be said to have defined the look of Studio Ghibli films in the last 20 years, it would be Akihiko Yamashita. First a key animator on Spirited Away in 2001, he was quickly promoted to animation direction on Howl's Moving Castle in 2004. Yamashita also served as character designer on Howl's Moving Castle and The Secret World of Arrietty, and directed the Ghibli Museum short A Sumo Wrestler's Tail.
In a 2024 interview with Variety marking the 20th anniversary of Howl's Moving Castle, Yamashita reflected on working with Hayao Miyazaki. "I really have no idea how many pages of drawings there were or how many cels we drew," he told the outlet through an interpreter.
Hayao Miyazaki's Panorama Box
The short film is not the only reason to book a flight to Aichi this summer. Debuting on the same July 8 date, a brand-new art exhibit from Hayao Miyazaki represents the co-founder's first-ever work created for Ghibli Park. He spent three years producing a series of Panorama Box dioramas depicting iconic scenes spanning his filmography.
A total of 31 panorama boxes are on display, representing not only his theatrical releases but also the short films he directed for the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo. The works utilize a layering technique that creates an illusion of three-dimensional depth, resembling the multiplane camera method used in traditional cel animation.
At a March press conference at Studio Ghibli's headquarters in Koganei, Goro Miyazaki spoke about the impetus for the project: "Hayao Miyazaki essentially had no involvement whatsoever" in Ghibli Park's planning, "but it seems he wanted to leave his mark on it in some way, so he said 'I'm going to make this thing!'"
Studio Ghibli president Toshio Suzuki reported that Miyazaki was visibly pleased by children's reactions at the preview, and that Suzuki heard him say, "Ghibli for children has come back." Miyazaki, who turned 85 in January 2026, shows no signs of stepping away. Suzuki has stated that the director is actively brainstorming ideas for a new production, though no concrete details have surfaced.
What Comes Next
For international fans, the exclusivity stings. The realistic expectation is that A Night in the Valley of Witches will remain a Ghibli Park exclusive for the foreseeable future, deliberately designed as a reason to visit, similar to how Tokyo DisneySea's original attraction films are made for a single location. Whether that changes over time is anyone's guess, but Studio Ghibli has historically kept its museum shorts tightly guarded for years.
Meanwhile, IMAX and GKIDS are continuing their collaboration following the successful IMAX release of Princess Mononoke, with more Ghibli titles set for the large-format treatment using new 4K restorations overseen by veteran Ghibli cinematographer Atsushi Okui. A separate exhibition titled Zen and Ghibli, based on a book compiling conversations between Suzuki and a Zen monk, is planned for Kyoto in October.
Between a park-exclusive short, 31 hand-painted dioramas, and a slate of IMAX restorations, 2026 is shaping up as the busiest year for the studio since The Boy and the Heron swept awards season. The only catch is that the best stuff requires a plane ticket.
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