Skwigly.com presents Animation One-To-Ones featuring Ben Mitchell in conversation with Academy Award®-nominee Richard Linklater, director, writer and producer of the Netflix film Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood as well as co-producer and Head of Animation Tommy Pallotta.

The film, presented in a uniquely elaborate 2D animation style that combines rotoscoping with traditional processes (brought to life by the talents of Submarine and Minnow Mountain), stars Jack Black as a man fondly narrating memories of his youth in Houston, Texas during the summer of 1969 in the lead-up to the moon landing, interweaving the enormity of mankind’s great leap and the fantasies it conjured in his young mind with comparatively mundane yet equally entertaining snapshots that celebrate the simple joys of family life and Americana.

The story draws upon the personal memories of Richard himself, whose films include Slacker, Dazed and Confused, the decades-spanning Before trilogy and Boyhood as well as Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly, both of which implemented their own variations on the rotoscoping technique, owed to his ongoing collaboration with Tommy and their shared passion for implementing animation as a valid and powerful storytelling method.

Having dropped on Netflix last Spring to much enthusiasm and positive reviews, the film is presently in contention for the 2023 Best Animated Feature Academy Award, following an initial struggle to be deemed eligible, a battle won that will hopefully set a new precedent for future editions of the ceremony and the industry at large.

Produced and presented by Ben Mitchell