The nominations for the Academy Awards were announced this morning and we are ecstatic that Life, Animated has been nominated for Best Documentary Feature!
The film first premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2016 where it took home the Directing Award for US Documentary. Director Roger Ross Williams is already an Oscar winning director, he took home the 2009 Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject).
Life, Animated tells the remarkable story of how Owen found in Disney animation a pathway to language and a framework for making sense of the world. By evocatively interweaving classic Disney sequences with verite scenes from Owen’s life, the film explores how identification and empathy with characters like Simba, Jafar, and Ariel forge a conduit for him to understand his feelings and interpret reality. Beautiful, original animations further give form to Owen’s fruitful dialogue with the Disney oeuvre as he imagines himself heroically facing adversity in a tribe of sidekicks. With an arsenal of narratives at his disposal, Owen rises to meet the challenges of adulthood in this moving coming-of-age tale.
Jim: The James Foley Story was also nominated at the awards in the original song category for The Empty Chair from J. Ralph and Sting.
