Filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki to be awarded honorary Oscar

Veteran Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, whose Studio Ghibli recently announced it was halting filmmaking, will receive an honorary Oscar, the US Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced.

The other recipients of the award this year are French screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere and actress Maureen O'Hara, the academy's board of governors announced on Thursday.

The award, which honours the recipients' lifetime achievements in the film industry, will be presented at a ceremony in Los Angeles on November 8.

Miyazaki's Spirited Away won the Oscar for animated feature film in 2003. His other works include Princess Mononoke and The Wind Rises, which was nominated for best animated feature at the 86th annual Academy Awards in March.

Miyazaki said last September he would retire from filmmaking, and earlier this month his Studio Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki announced that production was being suspended to concentrate on managing the studio's existing cinematic assets.

Characters created by Miyazaki and Ghibli are among the most beloved in Asian animation, including the furry forest god Totoro, and are huge merchandising money-spinners.

The only other Japanese to receive the award was Akira Kurosawa in 1990 at the 62nd Academy Awards.