Short answers, pulled from the story.
Waking Life follows an unnamed protagonist who realizes he is living out a perpetual dream broken up only by occasional false awakenings. The story explores existentialism, free will, and the nature of time through philosophical conversations with various characters.
Richard Linklater directed Waking Life which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2001 before its wider release on the 19th of October 2001 in the United States.
Waking Life utilized Mini DV footage rotoscoped by animators to create its distinctive fluid visual style using Bob Sabiston's Rotoshop software on Apple Macintosh computers.
Wiley Wiggins plays the protagonist while other cast members include Eamonn Healy Timothy Speed Levitch Adam Goldberg Nicky Katt Steven Prince Caveh Zahedi Alex Jones Kim Krizan Louis H. Mackey Steven Soderbergh David Sosa Robert C. Solomon and Steve Brudniak.
Waking Life won the National Society of Film Critics award for Best Experimental Film the New York Film Critics Circle award for Best Animated Film and the CinemAvvenire award at the Venice Film Festival for Best Film.