Nov 10, 2022

The Academy says "Apollo 10 No. 1/2" can qualify for the best animated feature Oscar race.

Reversing the previous decision, the Academy has decided that Richard Linklater's Apollo 10 1/2: Space Age childhood will be the subject of consideration in the animated feature film category of the upcoming 95th Academy Awards.

10 May, Linklater revealed that Apollo was told he could not contest for this year's Oscar. Speaking with Indiewire, he and producer Tommy Pallotta expressed dissatisfaction about the Academy's bias against perceived injustice and rotoscopes.

After hearing the news that the film is currently eligible, Austin-based Minnow Mountain, who handled the animation for the film along with a Dutch submarine, tweeted:

The animated film, Apollo10 1/2, is officially an animated film. After demonstrating the fact that Apollo 10 No. 1/2 meets the qualifications of the Academy as an animated feature film, our appeal was successful.

We have a very terrible gratitude to filmmakers who have written letters to the Academy or made public statements in support of the film. Academy voters will now have the opportunity to consider Apollo 10 1/2 next to the other great animated films of the year.

The Academy also confirmed that hybrid stop-motion/live-action features Marcel the Shell with Shoes On and Canada's Eternal Spring will also be subject to consideration as well. The decision was made after the committee considered the background material submitted by the filmmakers.

Distributed by A24, Marcel The Shell with Shoes On is based on a popular series of Youtube shorts. Special effects pioneer Stephen Thiode (Killer Crowns from Space, Team America: World Police) has been appointed director of feature-length animation for the franchise, directed by co-creator Dean Fleischer Camp and starring fellow co-creator Jenny Slate. Chiodo Bros.Productions was in charge of stop-motion animation for the film, with Edward Chiodo as animation producer and Kirsten Lepore as animation director.

Already selected as a Canadian submission for the international feature film Oscar, the animated documentary Eternal Spring is directed by Jason Loftus. The film uses a blend of animation and live-action footage to revisit the 2002 3rd anniversary of the hacking of Chinese TELEVISION signals by the spiritual group Falun Gong of the state ban on 20 March. The story centers around comic book illustrator Daxiong (Justice League, Star Wars).