Director Roger Ross Williams’ new feature, Life, Animated, tells the story of Owen Suskind, the autistic son of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind and his wife, Cornelia. Unable to speak for years, Owen memorized dozens of Disney movies and turned them into a language to express love, loss, kinship, and brotherhood. The family encouraged Owen’s love of Disney films, communicating with him in Disney dialogue and song. Life, Animated won the Documentary Directing Award at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
Williams discussed the making and aftermath of Life, Animated in a Q&A moderated by Director Robert B. Weide (Woody Allen: A Documentary) following the DGA screening in Los Angeles on June 29. Williams also engaged in a conversation moderated by Director Kristi Jacobson (Solitary) following the Eastern Region Special Projects Committee’s Documentary Series screening in New York on June 17.
Williams’ filmography includes the documentaries God Loves Uganda and New York Underground; the movie for television The Lives They Lived; episodes of the series Undercover Boss, Sheila Bridges: Designer Living, The New Yorker Presents and Independent Lens; and the shorts Blackface and Gospel of Intolerance. In 2010, Williams and Director Elinor Burkett won the Academy Award in the "Best Documentary, Short Subjects" category for Music by Prudence.