The Hawaii Theatre Center celebrates anime filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki this weekend in a three-day event co-hosted by Art + Flea, Honolulu’s vibrant outlet for homegrown artists and vendors.

The Miyazaki Ghibli Film Festival showcases four films by Miyazaki, a founding member of Studio Ghibli, known for its uncompromising, astonishing animated fantasies.

Art + Flea co-hosts, with bands playing Ghibli-inspired music before films, vendors at the theater and a Miyazaki character costume/cosplay contest on Sunday.

In addition to the films, Studio Ghibli also has a presence, with a commemorative Ghibli T-shirt exclusive to the fest.

Saturday’s event coincides with Discover Art, Chinatown’s second-Saturday walkabout, with the Arts at Marks Garage at the center of a day of workshops, vendors, music and exhibits in the neighborhood. “We do anticipate it to be a fun Saturday in Chinatown,” says Art + Flea entertainment director Ryan Miyashiro.

The films featured are “Princess Mononoke” (“Mononoke Hime”), released in 1997; “Kiki’s Delivery Service” (“Majo no Takkyubin”), 1989; “Spirited Away” (“Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi”), 2001; and “My Neighbor Totoro” (“Tonari no Totoro”), 1988. The films illustrate Miyazaki’s affection for resourceful female characters and resounding, mythlike stories. Miyashiro describes them as “fantastic pieces that speak to the human spirit.”

“In animation, you’re not bound by the laws of physics,” Miyashiro said. “Only by your imagination. Miyazaki excels. There’s no pure good or evil. Everyone has elements of both.”

Contemporary viewers are often inspired by Miyazaki’s devotion to traditional, hand-drawn methods of animation, and by his explorations of human greed and cruelty, as well as kindness and cooperation. “There’s so much humanity getting poured into it,” Miyashiro said.

Opening-night film “Princess Mononoke” was the first animated film to win the best picture prize at the Japanese Academy Awards. The tale follows a warrior who journeys deep into a sacred forest, where he encounters Mononoke, who was raised by wolves, and becomes involved in an epic battle with vengeful spirits seeking to save the woods from exploitation by humans.

“Kiki’s Delivery Service,” the highest-grossing film in Japan upon its release, is the story of a young witch who uses her broom to create a delivery service, but loses her gift of flight in a moment of self-doubt. It screens on Saturday, as does the Academy Award-winning, internationally acclaimed “Spirited Away.”

In “Spirited Away,” 10-year-old Chihiro becomes separated from her parents at an abandoned carnival site and stumbles upon a spirit world, where she is pressed into servitude and must plot to escape.

Closing-day film “My Neighbor Totoro,” is a multiple award-winner in Japan. It’s an endearing film that follows two girls, Satsuki and Mei, who venture into the forest and meet a family of Totoros, gentle but powerful creatures who live in an ancient camphor tree and can be seen only by children.

Food, music and vendors combine with the films to create a festival atmosphere.

“The thing is to pull the movies outside of the screen, and also to pull the audience into the films,” Miyashiro said.

Food vendor Onomono (“ono” or “delicious” in Hawaiian, and “mono” or “thing” in Japanese) is known for its flavored and fried musubi and rice balls. Here in Honolulu, Onomono makes them with flavors such as cheese and bacon, appealing to local tastes.

“Wing Ice Cream makes homemade ice cream with unique flavor combinations, as well as having vegan options which use coconut milk instead of cream,” Miyashiro noted. “Some of my personal favorites are his Kurosawa (homemade vanilla ice cream, strawberry swirl and matcha fudge; named after famed Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa), Guabanero sorbet (guava and habanero) and Mayan Xocolat (chocolate ice cream with cinnamon and a touch of cayenne). … I guarantee, it’ll be delicious.”

The Pig & The Lady will be serving outside the theater on Friday night, farmers market-style. And on Saturday night, Pig & The Lady offers a four-course dinner at its Chinatown restaurant, with a menu inspired by food seen in Miyazaki’s films, including “Totoro,” “Porco Rosso,” “Spirited Away” and “Kiki’s Delivery Service.” Seating is limited to 50; make a reservation at thepigandthelady.com or by calling 585-8255.

On Friday and Saturday nights, live musical performances take place from 7 to 7:30 p.m. inside the Hawaii Theatre, before the film screenings. The groups will perform songs from Miyazaki films. Miyashiro is in both bands.

On Friday, it’s The Drowning Dreamers, an indie-folk band.

On Saturday, it’s Makkuro KurO.K., a group assembled specifically for the festival, with Patrick Oiye on shamisen and shakuhachi, Mika Yamazaki on piano, singer Lacy Tsutsuse and Miyashiro on guitar. “Members of the group have ties to traditional Japanese music,” Miyashiro said. Oiye and Yamazaki belong to Kenny Endo’s taiko group, while Tsutsuse is a member of the Honolulu Fukushima Bon Dance Club and is a practitioner of enka, a poignant, nostalgic style of Japanese folk song.

Vendors at the festival will be inside the Hawaii Theatre, upstairs in the Weyand Room on Saturday and Sunday.

Nature Nurture Goods will be on hand with handcrafted shirts, hats and prints. 7Sketches provides art, apparel and stickers.

Loads O’ Cuties is a vendor of Japanese-style amigurumi, or knitted/crocheted stuffed animals. At the fest, this vendor will have Totoro key chains.

Ho‘okani supplies crafted wooden home accessories and handmade instruments.

Death by Scrapbooking provides party favors and paper accessories, with original designs drawn and cut by hand.

Kawaii Mono supplies handmade accessories.

Mistprint is a maker of “incredibly clever and unbelievably cute” stationery, Miyashiro said.

There will be hands-on participation with a Japanese woodblock printing workshop by EngiNERD Art.

Photo Ops Hawaii, a photo booth, will be on site to document the fest.

“All these creative people get to share what we do and what we make,” Miyashiro said. “We’re doing a lot of great things.”

FESTIVAL EVENTS

FRIDAY

>> 6:30-8 p.m.: Food vendor Pig & The Lady (outside)

>> 7-7:30 p.m.: Live performance, The Drowning Dreamers Band

>> 8 p.m.: Screening, Princess Mononoke (subtitled)

SATURDAY

>> 3-8 p.m.: Food vendor Onomono (outside)

>> 3-8 p.m.: Art + Flea in Hawaii Theatres Weyand Room

>> 4 p.m.: Screening, Kikis Delivery Service (dubbed)

>> 5-6:30 p.m.: Pop-up dinner at Pig & The Lady (reservations required)

>> 7-7:30 p.m.: Live performance, Makkuro KurO.K.

>> 8 p.m.: Screening, Spirited Away (subtitled)

SUNDAY

>> 11-3 p.m.: Food vendor Onomono (outside)

>> 11-3 p.m.: Art + Flea in Hawaii Theatres Weyand Room

>> 2 p.m.: Costume/cosplay contest

>> 3 p.m.: Screening, My Neighbor Totoro (dubbed)