The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness

"The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness" (2013) is a Japanese documentary you can watch online on iFILM — director Mami Sunada spent a year inside Studio Ghibli as it simultaneously finished two major animated films.

The camera follows Hayao Miyazaki as he obsesses over storyboard corrections for "The Wind Rises," and separately tracks Isao Takahata — eight years deep into "The Tale of Princess Kaguya" and still reworking scenes. Producer Toshio Suzuki moves between them, brokering quiet and finding money. From outside, Studio Ghibli is a plain suburban office building. Inside, you see where the alchemy actually happens.

No narration, no dramatic score, no theorizing about genius. Mami Sunada just watches and lets the footage speak. For anyone trying to understand how Ghibli makes what it makes, this is the closest thing to an answer. Stream "The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness" online on iFILM.