The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has decided that animation can include such things as rotoscoping and shells with shoes on. Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood, Marcel the Shell With Shoes On, and Canadian documentary Eternal Spring are all eligible for Oscars in 2023. The decision was made “upon review of relevant background materials provided by the filmmakers,” the Academy said in a statement. Previously, the Academy had said that Apollo 10 1/2 wasn’t eligible because it relied too heavily on live-action footage. Eternal Spring and Marcel were stuck in the Oscars “maybe” pile.
Since rotoscoping is the art of transforming live-action footage into cartoons, it’s kinda hard to do without some live-action material. Richard Linklater and the film’s producers argued that the rotoscoping process was done with traditional 2-D animation techniques, and thus had more artistic merit than if the process had been automated. “We really looked at the older 2-D-animation methods and relied on the creativity and the brute force of people’s hands doing the work,” producer Tommy Pallotta told Vulture.
“After demonstrating the fact that Apollo 10 1/2 meets the Academy’s qualifications as an animated feature film our appeal was successful,” Steph Swope and Craig Staggs of Minnow Mountain (Apollo 10 1/2’s animation studio) told Vulture. “We have so much freaking gratitude to the filmmakers who wrote letters to the Academy or made public statements in support of the film.”
This post has been updated to include statements from the Academy and Minnow Mountain.
