Memorial of a Snail, dir. Adam Eliot

Grace Pudel is a lonely misfit with an affinity for collecting ornamental snails and an intense love for books. At a young age, when Grace is separated from her fire-breathing twin brother Gilbert, she falls into a spiral of anxiety and angst. Despite a continued series of hardships, inspiration and hope emerge when she strikes up an enduring friendship with an elderly eccentric woman named Pinky, who is full of grit and lust for life. From Academy Award-winning® animation writer and director Adam Elliot, Memoir of a Snail is a poignant, heartfelt, hilarious chronicle of the life of an outsider finding her confidence and silver linings amongst the clutter of everyday life. 'Memoir Of A Snail' is Academy Award® winning animation auteur, Adam Elliot's, second feature length clayography film, and part seven of his Trilogy of Trilogies, (three short shorts, three long shorts, three features). Produced by Liz Kearney, this new adult animated stopmotion feature is the bittersweet remembrance of a lonely woman, Grace Pudel, who retells her life story to a humble garden snail called Sylvia.

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Awards 

- Annecy International Animated Film Festival, France, 2024;

- Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival, Spain; 2024;

- Best Film, London Film Festival, Great Britain, 2024;

- Best Director, São Paulo International Film Festival, Brazil, 2024;

- Virginia Film Festival, USA, 2024;

- Mill Valley Film Festival, USA, 2024;

- Philadelphia Film Critics Circle Awards, USA, 2024; 

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Adam Eliot

Adam Elliot is an Academy Award© winning independent animator and visual artist based in Melbourne Australia. His animated films and imagery are what he calls, Clayographies, clay animated biographies based on the bittersweet lives of his family and friends. He has created seven animated films including, Memoir of a Snail, Mary and Max, Harvie Krumpet, Ernie Biscuit, Brother, Cousin and Uncle. They have been voiced by some of the world’s leading actors, including, Sarah Snook, Jacki Weaver, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Geoffrey Rush, Barry Humphries, Eric Bana and Toni Collette. Viewed by millions of people around the world his works have participated in over a thousand film festivals and won over 100 awards, including the 2004 Academy Award© for Harvie Krumpet. They have won six AFI/AACTA Awards from nine nominations; more AFI/ AACTA Awards than any other Australian Director. His first feature film, Mary and Max, had its world premiere on the opening night of Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Festival, and in 2010 it was included in IMDB’s Top 250 Films of all time. Popular on Netflix the film is currently being developed into a Broadway Musical, and to date there have been six stage adaptations produced in Europe. His films are taught in schools and universities here and abroad and he has had multiple retrospectives including exhibitions in Paris, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Spain and Singapore, with more to follow. In 1999 he was the Young Achiever of the Year for Victoria and is an Honoury Councillor for the Australian Film Institute. He is the Official Patron for The Film Critics Circle of Australia and Patron for The Victorian Day Council. He is a voting member for the Annual Academy Awards and in 2017 was appointed an Adjunct Professorship at Swinburne University and RMIT University. Apart from his film work, he loves to draw and is having a solo exhibition in late October 2024.

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Filmography

2015 - Ernie Biscuit - stopmotion black and white, 21’

2009 - Mary and Max – feature, stopmotion colour, 1h32

2003 - Harvie Krumpet – short, stopmotion colour (Academy Award for Best Animated Short), 23’

2000 - Brother – short,  stopmotion black and white, 8’

1999 - Cousin – short, stopmotion black and white, 4'

1996 - Uncle – short, stopmotion black and white, 6’