You probably know all about these films anyway, but just in case...
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Nausicäa of the Valley of the Wind

Widely regarded as one of Hayao Miyazaki's best films, and on the bill despite being released before Studio Ghibli was formed.  The story is set in a future world where the remnants of humanity struggle for survival following an apocalyptic war centuries before.  The world is being overrun by a spreading jungle of toxic plants and giant insects, with the remaining human kingdoms facing the constant threat of being swallowed up.  Nausicäa is the princess of the peaceful Valley of the Wind, a small kingdom protected from the jungle's spores by the wind blowing from the ocean.  She believes that man can live in harmony with the jungle and its creatures, but Princess Kushana from the warlike Kingdom of Torumekia has other ideas.  She wants to resurrect an ancient weapon from the great war and destroy the forest, but the ship transporting it crashes in the Valley of the Wind and she mounts an invasion.  Faced with an overwhelming enemy can Nausicäa possibly stop the reactivation of the weapon and the destruction of her own people?  Nausicäa

of the Valley of the Wind was the night's main draw, mainly because of how rarely it gets a cinema screening in the UK.  Despite not being the digital HD master people hoped for the film is still magnificent on the big screen, with some superb animation, memorable characters and a fantastic story with a perfectly pitched ecological message.  Whilst slightly dated in places - such as some 80's sci-fi cartoon sound effects - the film still held the audiences' attention and sleep was not an option due to the devastating volume the speakers were set at!

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The Cat Returns

Despite being largely overlooked in Studio Ghibli's catalogue, The Cat Returns is probably their most fun family film.  A (very) loose follow up to their earlier Whisper of the Heart, the film follows a schoolgirl named Haru who gets more than she bargained for when she saves a cat from being run over.  The cat she saves turns out to be the prince of the Cat Kingdom, and in his gratitude the Cat King decides on a series of rewards fit for a cat - cumulating with Haru being transported to the Cat Kingdom to marry the cat she saved!  Desperate to avoid this Haru follows an anonymous tip and employs the services of the enigmatic Baron von Gikkengen of the Cat Bureau to help her.  However, the agents of the Cat Kingdom are already on the move, and with the proposed marriage meaning that Haru will eventually turn into a cat, can even the Baron help her avoid her feline fate?  The Cat Returns is a fun romp that is strong on the comedy and refreshingly free of serious drama or deep messages.  The animation and art is good, and whilst

it may have quite a simplistic story and lack the epic scope or emotional impact of some of the major Ghibli titles, it makes up for it in sheer entertainment.  Haru is one of Ghibli's most refreshingly realistic heroines and in a way it's a shame the film wasn't shown in English as the dub is one of the best that has been done.  On the night the film raised a few laughs and kept everyone awake and entertained, whilst also pleasantly surprising a few people who had not seen it before. 

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Howl's Moving Castle

Although highly regarded by many fans, Howl's Moving Castle is generally considered one of Hayao Miyazaki's weaker films by critics, despite having good pedigree.  The film is based on a book by Welsh author Diana Wynn Jones and follows a young milliner named Sophie who is cursed by the dreaded Witch of the Wastes to turn into a 90 year old woman.  Hoping to find a way of reversing the spell Sophie leaves her home town to seek out the fearsome wizard Howl and his magical moving castle.  However, Howl isn't quite as the stories say, he's vain but far from being the murderous monster he is rumoured to be Howl is trying to keep himself hidden, working under a number of aliases and avoiding a call up to fight in the nation's destructive war.  Sophie soon makes herself at home in his castle, but getting her curse lifted isn't going to be easy.  She is unable to talk about the curse so has to rely on Howl noticing it himself, but with his focus firmly on hiding this may be a tall order.  With both the Witch of the Wastes and the court wizard Suliman constantly

searching for him can Sophie hope to get him to lift her curse of will they all be captured?  Howl's Moving Castle was criticised on release for its ending and a heavy-handed war subplot which seemed out of kilter with the main story and the source material.  However, the film fares much better taken as it is, and it boasts some of the finest animation and art that Ghibli has so far produced.  The characters are excellent and very memorable, whilst the story is at turns engaging, exciting and dramatic.  It does still suffer from a very rushed and overly convenient ending, but the film as a whole was better than I remembered it and it certainly kept most people entertained, even if a couple started to succumb to tiredness.

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Spirited Away

I remember when Spirited Away won an Oscar some commentators suggested it was for his back catalogue rather than for the film itself.  Watching the film again though makes you realise that those commentators were doing it a massive disservice.  The film starts with the sullen Chihiro and her parents finding a strange building after getting lost on the way to their new home.  Despite her protests her parents decide to explore, discovering what appears to be an abandoned theme park with stalls laden with food.  They tuck in with gusto but Chihiro refuses and soon discovers something is very wrong.  Night falls and strange creatures start to appear, the stream they crossed on the way in has become a vast river which prevents them from leaving and her parents have inexplicably been turned into pigs!  Lost and alone in a strange land Chihiro's only hope to save her parents is to ask the sorceress Yubaba for a job whilst seeking a way to change them back.  However, her job isn't easy.  She's stuck in a land frequented by Japanese gods