Thousands of clay ears, eyes, noses, and mouths are currently on rotation in Adam Elliot’s (Mary and Max, Harvie Krumpet) stop-motion studio in Melbourne, Australia. The Academy Award-winning auteur is hard at work executing his second full-length feature, Memoir of a Snail. 

Almost a decade in the making, Memoir of a Snail is about a melancholic Australian woman named Grace Puddle who hoards snails, romance novels, and guineapigs. 

It’s a film that’s taken a lot of patience and persistence, Adam explains. After scooping up an Oscar for his short animation, Harvie Krumpet (2003), Adam created his debut feature film, Mary and Max, which opened the Sundance Film Festival in 2009 and quickly received international critical acclaim. In 2015, Adam released another short, Ernie Biscuit, before sinking his teeth into his second, highly anticipated feature film, Memoir of a Snail, which is scheduled to premiere at Melbourne International Film Festival. 

Born and bred in Melbourne, Australia, Adam has made all his films in the city he calls home.

“All the talent is here. So, there’s no reason why we can’t bring big stop-motion projects to Melbourne, just like live action does.”

Adam Elliot

The good thing about animation, he admits, is it has a long shelf life. “We get emails every week from people who have just seen Mary and Max for the first time, and it feels as fresh to them as it would have 15 years ago. So, I think that’s another bonus with animation, is it doesn’t date as quickly as live action.”

Adam and his team have already secured some of the country’s best actors to voice the next iteration of clay characters, including Eric Bana, Jacki Weaver and Kodi Smit-McPhee.

Catch a sneak peak of Adam’s animation in the newly released trailer below: