Known for Camera
Atsushi Okui has been the director of Photography on many films from Studio Ghibli. He is known for Akira (1988), Princess Mononoke (1997) and The Wind Rises (2013).
Born
January 1, 1963 (age 63)
Birthplace
Japan
Filmography
39 films, 8 shows


The Boy and the Heron
2023 · 2h 4m
country: Japan
While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother's tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the boy's mother. As he tries to adjust, this strange new world grows even stranger following the appearance of a persistent gray heron, who perplexes and bedevils Mahito, dubbing him the "long-awaited one."


Tomorrow's Leaves
2021 · 9m
country: Japan
The annual arrival of the message leaf causes concern – something is undeniably wrong. Its usually vibrant and lasting colours quickly fade, and it suddenly withers and crumbles. Five envoys, from five diverse lands, are dispatched to find out what has happened. The envoys travel to a distant land, quietly guided by tiny spirits. Each envoy has its own strengths and vulnerabilities. They compete and support each other as they draw closer to their destination, facing treacherous terrain and difficult conditions. Through athletic challenges and the uniting power of sport, they discover the positive fundamental values that come with playful competition. Together, the envoys approach near the source of the message leaf. Can they restore life to a future in peril?


When Marnie Was There
2014 · 1h 43m
country: Japan
Upon being sent to live with relatives in the countryside due to an illness, an emotionally distant adolescent girl becomes obsessed with an abandoned mansion and infatuated with a girl who lives there - a girl who may or may not be real.


The Wind Rises
2013 · 2h 6m
country: Japan
A lifelong love of flight inspires Japanese aviation engineer Jiro Horikoshi, whose storied career includes the creation of the A-6M World War II fighter plane.


From Up on Poppy Hill
2011 · 1h 31m
country: Japan
Yokohama, 1963. Japan is picking itself up from the devastation of World War II and preparing to host the 1964 Olympics—and the mood is one of both optimism and conflict as the young generation struggles to throw off the shackles of a troubled past. Against this backdrop of hope and change, a friendship begins to blossom between high school students Umi and Shun—but a buried secret from their past emerges to cast a shadow on the future and pull them apart.


Mr. Dough and the Egg Princess
2010 · 12m
country: Japan
The story of a tiny Egg-girl who is forced to serve the evil Boar-like witch Baba Yaga. But after a blob of Dough comes to life, she befriends him and both escape from the witch's home at a Water mill on a cliff and set off to see the world. The soundtrack is Joe Hisaishi's arrangement of Vivaldi's La Folia


Arrietty
2010 · 1h 35m
country: France
14-year-old Arrietty and the rest of the Clock family live in peaceful anonymity as they make their own home from items "borrowed" from the house's human inhabitants. However, life changes for the Clocks when a human boy discovers Arrietty.


A Sumo Wrestler's Tail
2010 · 13m
country: Japan
Chu Zumo is the story of an old farmer who discovers a group of rats heading to a sumo wrestling bout. After they lose miserably he decides to feed the rats to boost their chances of winning.


Ponyo
2008 · 1h 40m
country: Japan
When Sosuke, a young boy who lives on a clifftop overlooking the sea, rescues a stranded goldfish named Ponyo, he discovers more than he bargained for. Ponyo is a curious, energetic young creature who yearns to be human, but even as she causes chaos around the house, her father, a powerful sorcerer, schemes to return Ponyo to the sea.


Have a Nice Day
2006 · 3h 26m
country: Japan
Compilation film featuring short works from directors Hitoshi Yasaki ("Short Cakes"), Yuki Tanada (scriptwriter "Sakuran," "Tsuki to Cherry"), Hiroyuki Nakano ("Stereo Future," "Samurai Fiction"), Masahiko Nagasawa ("Yoru no Picnic"), Masaya Kakehi ("Bijokan), and more for a total of 18 shorts. This time around the theme is "24 hours," where filming for each work must have been completed in 24 hours in order to appear in this film.


The Day I Bought a Star
2006 · 16m
country: Japan
A young boy is tired of the city and escapes into the country. Two strangers trade him a strange seed. The boy accepts and the seed sprouts into a miniature planet, which continues to grow.


Mon Mon the Water Spider
2006 · 15m
country: Japan
The short film's main character is a diving bell spider who seems to have fallen in love with a water strider. Although she is scared of him at first, the water strider soon gets used to the presence of the spider.


House Hunting
2006 · 12m
country: Japan
A girl goes exploring to find a new house. Along the way, she encounters many of Japan's guardian spirits.


Howl's Moving Castle
2004 · 1h 59m
country: Japan
Sophie, a young milliner, is turned into an elderly woman by a witch who enters her shop and curses her. She encounters a wizard named Howl and gets caught up in his resistance to fighting for the king.


Mei and the Kittenbus
2002 · 13m
country: Japan
Mei is eating a caramel on one very windy day, when suddenly a whirlwind appears and starts chasing her. The whirlwind turns out to be a baby cat bus. Mei offers the kitten a caramel and the two become friends. That night, the baby cat bus visits Mei. Letting Mei ride inside him, he leaps out into the sky. They head for the midnight forest full of ghosts. Other cat buses large and small have also gathered together.


Ghiblies: Episode 2
2002 · 24m
country: Japan
Ghiblies (pronounced with a hard "g" as in "gallop") is a short film aired during a TV special about Ghibli. It's about a fictional animation studio named "Ghibli" and the people who work there. This rare Ghibli Comedy is a look into who the people making the films are. Plotlines run from office jokes to Nonaka's first love, bringing together a short feature of random events.


Koro's Big Day Out
2002 · 14m
country: Japan
The film is about Koro the puppy, who runs away from his mistress, experiences some adventures around town and who is finally happily returned home.


The Whale Hunt
2001 · 16m
country: Japan
Kujiratori tells the story of school children pretending they are building a boat. As imagination replaces reality, they find themselves on the ocean, hunting for a whale. A big, gentle whale appears, accompanies them back to land and plays with them. Then the fantasy ends and the children are back in their class room.


Spirited Away
2001 · 2h 5m
country: Japan
A young girl, Chihiro, becomes trapped in a strange new world of spirits. When her parents undergo a mysterious transformation, she must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free her family.


Ghiblies
2000 · 12m
country: Japan
Ghiblies, a totally different look on the staff of Studio Ghibli as they go through life, work on new animation projects, office jokes, off the wall events, and deciding what to have for lunch.


My Neighbors the Yamadas
1999 · 1h 44m
country: Japan
The Yamadas are a typical middle class Japanese family in urban Tokyo and this film shows us a variety of episodes of their lives. With tales that range from the humorous to the heartbreaking, we see this family cope with life's little conflicts, problems, and joys in their own way.


Princess Mononoke
1997 · 2h 14m
country: Japan
Ashitaka, a prince of the disappearing Emishi people, is cursed by a demonized boar god and must journey to the west to find a cure. Along the way, he encounters San, a young human woman fighting to protect the forest, and Lady Eboshi, who is trying to destroy it. Ashitaka must find a way to bring balance to this conflict.


Whisper of the Heart
1995 · 1h 51m
country: Japan
Shizuku lives a simple life, dominated by her love for stories and writing. One day she notices that all the library books she has have been previously checked out by the same person: "Seiji Amasawa."


Chage & Aska: On Your Mark
1995 · 7m
country: Japan
Set in the future: Two men learn that a mysterious winged girl has been taken prisoner, and then decide that they must free her at any cost.


Pom Poko
1994 · 1h 59m
country: Japan
The Raccoons of the Tama Hills are being forced from their homes by the rapid development of houses and shopping malls. As it becomes harder to find food and shelter, they decide to band together and fight back. The Raccoons practice and perfect the ancient art of transformation until they are even able to appear as humans in hilarious circumstances.


Ocean Waves
1993 · 1h 12m
country: Japan
At Kichijōji Station, Tokyo, Taku Morisaki glimpses a familiar woman on the platform opposite boarding a train. Later, her photo falls from a shelf as he exits his apartment before flying to Kōchi Prefecture. Picking it up, he looks at it briefly before leaving. As the aeroplane takes off, he narrates the events that brought her into his life...


Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Afterglow of Zeon
1992 · 2h
country: Japan
U.C. 0083 - Three years after the end of the catastrophic One Year War, peace on Earth and the colonies is shattered by the presence of the Delaz Fleet, a rogue Zeon military group loyal to the ideals of the late dictator Gihren Zabi. Delaz Fleet's ace pilot Anavel Gato, once hailed as "The Nightmare of Solomon", infiltrates the Federation's Torrington base in Australia and steals the nuclear-armed Gundam GP02A "Physalis" prototype. Rookie pilot Kou Uraki - with the aid of Anaheim Electronics engineer Nina Purpleton and the crew of the carrier Albion - pilots the Gundam GP01 "Zephyranthes" prototype in an attempt to recover the stolen Gundam unit and prevent another war from breaking out.


Porco Rosso
1992 · 1h 33m
country: Japan
In Italy in the 1930s, sky pirates in biplanes terrorize wealthy cruise ships as they sail the Adriatic Sea. The only pilot brave enough to stop the scourge is the mysterious Porco Rosso, a former World War I flying ace who was somehow turned into a pig during the war. As he prepares to battle the pirate crew's American ace, Porco Rosso enlists the help of spunky girl mechanic Fio Piccolo and his longtime friend Madame Gina.


Mobile Suit Gundam F91
1991 · 1h 55m
country: Japan
U.C. 0123. After a generation of peace, the Earth Federation has begun to build new space colonies to house humanity's growing population. But a new force, the aristocratic Crossbone Vanguard, plans to seize the colonies of the newly constructed Frontier Side for itself. As their home becomes a battlefield, a handful of young civilians struggle to escape the conflict. To save his friends and family, the reluctant warrior Seabook Arno becomes the pilot of a new Gundam which bears the code name F91.


Mobile Suit SD Gundam Mk IV
1990 · 20m
country: Japan
The SD Gundams are at it again: first with a race among all of the prior SD Gundam characters, then the SD Zeons run a space travel agency in the second episode.


Mobile Suit SD Gundam Mk III
1990 · 30m
country: Japan
The third installment of SD Gundam shorts.


Dirty Pair: Flight 005 Conspiracy
1990 · 1h
country: Japan
The 3WA's Central Computer gave the Lovely Angels two cases at once! Kei and Yuri must investigate a space liner explosion and, simultaneously, find a missing scientist. It all seems easy enough, but this is actually the Angels' most dangerous mission yet – and if they're not careful, it'll be their last.


Mobile Suit SD Gundam's Counterattack
1989 · 24m
country: Japan
The first theatrically release of the SD Gundam series. Contains two shorts, "The Storm-Calling School Festival" and "The Tale of the SD Warring States: The Chapter of the Violent Final Sky Castle".


Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket
1989 · 3h
country: Japan
In the final days of the One Year War, a Zeon special forces group infiltrates a colony to gather information on a new Gundam unit. Alfred Izuruha, a 10-year-old student, befriends Zeon rookie pilot Bernie Wiseman during a brief mobile suit combat. Meanwhile, Al meets up with Christina MacKenzie, his former neighbor and babysitter. Little does he know that not only is Christina a member of the Earth Federation, she's the test pilot of the new Gundam NT-4 prototype.


Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack
1988 · 2h
country: Japan
In UC 0093, the Federation has recovered from its defeat and has created a new anti-colonial special forces unit to deal with rebel forces: Londo Bell. Elsewhere in space, Char Aznable reappears out of self-imposed hiding with a declaration that he now commands his own Neo-Zeon movement, and intends to force the emigration of Earth's inhabitants to space by bringing about an apocalypse.


Mobile Suit SD Gundam
1988 · 27m
country: Japan
A collection of short parodies of the Mobile Suit Gundam saga. Episode 1 pokes fun at key events that occurred during the One Year War. In episode 2, Amuro, Kamille and Judau fight over who runs the better pension when Char comes in to crash their party. Episode 3 is the SD Olympics, an array of athletic events pitting man with mobile suit.


Aura Battle Dunbine: The Tale of Neo Byston Well
1988 · 1h 20m
country: Japan
Taking place 700 years after the Dunbine TV Series, "The Tale of Neo Byston Well" revolves around Shion Zaba, the reincarnation of series protagonist Sho Zama. Together with Silkie Mau, Reml Jilfried (the reincarnation of Remile Luft), and the Aura Battler Silbine, Shion must stop a twisted Shot Weapon from launching a custom-made nuclear ICBM missile that's poised to wipe out the realm.


Dirty Pair: Project Eden
1986 · 1h 21m
country: Japan
Agerna is a planet rich in Vizorium, the one mineral necessary to space travel. When a series of mysterious attacks on mining operations has world leaders pointing fingers and pinning blame, 3WA naturally send in their top agents to investigate. But are the Lovely Angels up to the task of stopping a mad scientist bent on taking a long dormant alien race to its final evolutionary form? Throw in a thief after a bottle of WWII-vintage wine and it's a safe bet that nobody's safe. It's more chaos, more mayhem, and even more destruction than ever before as the Dirty Pair take on their wildest case yet!