Coming-of-age documentary biography on Owen Suskind, a young man who was unable to speak as a child until he and...
Coming-of-age documentary biography on Owen Suskind, a young man who was unable to speak as a child until he and his family discovered a unique way to communicate - by immersing themselves in the world of classic Disney animated films. From director Roger Ross Williams, winner of the Oscar for Best Short Documentary in 2010.
"At three years old, a chatty, energetic little boy named Owen ceased to speak, disappearing into autism with apparently no way out. Almost four years passed and the only stimuli that engaged Owen were Disney films. Then one day, his father donned a puppet - Iago, the wisecracking parrot from Aladdin - and asked “what’s it like to be you?” And poof! Owen replied, with dialogue from the movie.
"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." (Sundance Film Festival)
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Where to watch Life, Animated
Life, Animated | Details
- Award winner
- Directing Award (Documentary) winner at Sundance Film Festival 2016
- Rating
- PG, Coarse language
- Runtime
- 88
- Genre
- Documentary
- Country of origin
- USA, France