The bleak and heartrending story of Grace, a snail collector. Adam Elliot’s elaborate claymation has received several international awards and an Oscar nomination.
Melancholic Grace, wearing a funny hat with snail eyes, is sharing her memories with her only listener, Sylvia, a snail named after Sylvia Plath. Grace’s paralyzed father, once a circus performer, used to compare childhood to being drunk: everyone but you remembers what you did. But Grace has a rare ability to remember her childhood in every detail, storing all her traumatic memories inside. To protect herself from them she collects objects that remind her of snails, who can always hide in their shell. With time, her snail collection becomes so large, and her need to hide so strong, that Grace resorts to an act of despair, supported by her eccentric old friend Pinky.
Like Grace, the film’s director Adam Elliot is a collector—of human eccentricity. Grace’s beloved twin brother is a pyromaniac, her foster family are nudists, and her brother’s foster parents belong to a sect. Her husband is a fetishist. Everyone in this clay universe is «different, ” and their eccentricities in the film are shown as neither scary nor repulsive. As in Grace’s case, strangeness might conceal an unseen story.
The film received the Best Feature award at Annecy International Animation Film Festival (2024), the Best Film award at BFI London Film Festival (2024), and an Oscar nomination (2025).
The film will be screened in English with Russian subtitles.
A shortened cut of the film will be screened at Garage, as several scenes that do not comply with Russian law have been omitted.
Memoir of a Snail
Director: Adam Elliot
Australia, 2024. 95 min.
18+