The Menil Collection The Menil Collection

7:30 p.m.: Music by DJ Vincent Priceless
8:15 p.m.: Remarks by Craig Staggs, Co-Producer, Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood 8:30 p.m.: Film begins

Join us for a special outdoor screening of Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood. This 2022 animated coming of age comedy-drama film is set during the events preceding the Apollo 11 Moon landing, loosely based on the childhood of writer, director, and producer Richard Linklater. It presents a fictional tale of a fourth-grader who becomes the first person to land on the Moon and stars Glen Powell, Jack Black, Zachary Levi and Josh Wiggins.

Linklater, who originally got the idea for the film in 2004, was planning to create the film in live action but instead decided to go with an animation style influenced by Saturday morning cartoons, due to the playful nature of animation. Home movies created in Houston, Texas during the 1960s were used for research, and some were also included in the film. Principal photography began in February 2020 at Robert Rodriguez’s Troublemaker Studios in Austin, Texas, and wrapped in March 2020. Parts of the film were done in front of the largest green screen in Texas and other parts of the film, which were shot in live-action, were animated during post-production using a technique similar to the rotoscoping used in Linklater’s Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006). Apollo 10½ premiered at South by Southwest on March 13, 2022.

Maturity Rating: PG-13. 1h 38m

This program is presented in conjunction with the foyer installation: Moon Landing, 1969, a trio of “Date Paintings” by Japanese-born Conceptual artist On Kawara (1932–2014), on view at the Menil Collection as a special loan from Glenstone Museum, Potomac, Maryland.

Copresented with the Friends of River Oaks Theatre.

Friends of River Oaks Theatre is a 501©(3) community nonprofit whose mission is to joyously help preserve the historic River Oaks Theatre by keeping the art in the arthouse through artistic programming, PR, outreach, support, and education for years to come.

This screening takes place on the lawn in front of the main building, located at 1533 Sul Ross Street. Picnic blankets are encouraged. In the event of rain, the program will be moved inside.

The Kona Ice truck will be on-site.

Additional information regarding accessibility and parking can be found here.

As always, Menil programs are free and open to all.