Life, Animated 8 years old

When he fell into silence, movies gave him back his voice

At three years old, a chatty, energetic little boy named Owen Suskind 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.

Credits

Life, Animated Cast

Name	Character
Jonathan Freeman He was 66, now 74 years old	as Himself
Gilbert Gottfried He was 61, now 69 years old	as Himself

Life, Animated Crew

Name	Department
Julie Goldman as Producer. She was 16 (now 24) years old	Production
Robert DeBitetto as Executive Producer.	Production
Robert Sharenow as Executive Producer.	Production
Thomas Bergmann as Director of Photography. He was 26 (now 35) years old	Camera
T. Griffin as Original Music Composer.	Sound
Roger Ross Williams as Director. He was 42 (now 51) years old	Directing
Roger Ross Williams as Producer. He was 42 (now 51) years old	Production