CulturePublicIn-person

Waking Life

Name: Waking Life
Start: 2026-10-18T20:15:00+02:00
End: 2026-10-18T21:54:00+02:00
Location: Nüschelerstrasse 11, 8001 Zürich, Switzerland

Nüschelerstrasse 11, 8001 Zürich, Switzerland
Zurich, Switzerland
Sun, October 18, 2026 (8:15 pm - 9:54 pm)
Mon, November 9, 2026 (6:30 pm - 8:09 pm)

Learn More

Description

«A young man encounters dozens of people in his search for the meaning of life, each providing him with new explanatory models. He increasingly realizes that he has left factual reality and is in a liminal space between life and death. But is this ‹dream within a dream› not characteristic of all experiences of reality?» (Filmdienst) «‹Cinema is an anti-universe, where reality emerges from a sum of unrealities.› (…) This quote, I believe from Jean Epstein, fits wonderfully with this animated film by Richard Linklater. Waking Life was created using a novel animation technique, where semi-automatically painted moving images are derived from video recordings. (…) The film is a series of paradoxes and reflections on what is real and what is not, on when one dreams and when one is awake; and the unusual way it is structured seems designed to complicate all the questions raised within it, rather than to resolve them.» (Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader, May 2025) Contributors and additional information: Director: Richard Linklater Screenplay: Richard Linklater Cinematography: Richard Linklater, Tommy Pallotta Music: Glover Gill Editing: Sandra Adair Cast: Wiley Wiggins, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Richard Linklater, Timothy «Speed» Levitch, Steven Soderbergh

Highlights

Directed by Richard Linklater
Unique animation technique
Explores themes of reality and dreams

General Information

Waking Life is a 2001 animated film by Richard Linklater that delves into existential questions through a series of encounters. The film employs a novel animation technique, creating a dreamlike experience as it examines the nature of reality and consciousness.