'Funny, dark, and beautifully animated': Annecy Festival awards Adam Elliot's 'Memoir of a Snail'
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00:00Now, it's funny, dark, deep and beautifully animated.
00:03That's what we're hearing about, Memoir of a Snail,
00:06which won the top prize at France's ANSI International Animation Film Festival on Saturday.
00:12The festival is one of the most important in the industry
00:16and awarded its feature film, Cristal, to the film by Australian claymation maestro Adam Elliott.
00:22Let's watch an extract.
00:30Now, I'm delighted to be joined by director Adam Elliott.
00:50Welcome to the programme.
00:52Thanks for speaking to France 24.
00:55Hello, Peter.
00:56You've won a few of these Cristals now, plus an Oscar.
01:00What does this latest win mean to you?
01:03Well, look, I think it's a validation of the eight years of hard work my team
01:08and I have been putting into this film and we're so relieved that,
01:13you know, the audiences were so, you know, taken by my story.
01:18And when I'm watching the faces on your characters,
01:22for me, it's clear why you use clay.
01:24It almost brings people's expressions and emotions to life more than even actors do.
01:28But, you know, let's hear from you.
01:30Why do you use clay?
01:32Well, I think now we're in a world where there's so much digital technology and CGI
01:37and computer animated films that I think there's a real respect.
01:42And, you know, looking back to traditional art forms,
01:47our film was 100% made in camera.
01:50Every prop set and character is a real tangible tactile object you could hold in your hand.
01:56I think it's the same reason why bread making is popular again,
01:59and knitting and all these handcrafts.
02:01So, yeah, I think the pendulum has swung back a bit
02:04towards more traditional handmade art forms.
02:07Even at the ANSI Festival,
02:09we've seen some artists start to incorporate AI into their work.
02:13What do you think of this?
02:15Well, look, I think everyone's scared of AI.
02:17I think I'm more scared as a writer than I am as a stop-motion filmmaker.
02:22But I think with stop-motion animation, when you see the fingerprints on the clay,
02:26the audience know immediately that what they're looking at is handcrafted
02:31and there's no AI at all.
02:33Now, Memoir of a Snail, as we've said, is darkly comic, stop-motion.
02:38Obviously, there have been comparisons to the work of Tim Burton,
02:41Nightmare Before Christmas, our viewers will know, as well as Corpse Bride.
02:44What do you think about these comparisons made between you and Tim Burton?
02:49Oh, look, you know, I'm honoured and, you know,
02:52I'm just a humble little filmmaker from Australia.
02:55So, you know, it all comes down to a good story well told and, you know,
03:00big names like Wes Anderson and Guillermo del Toro
03:02all dabbling now in stop-motion.
03:04So, you know, when I started filmmaking,
03:06I was told I was pursuing a dying art form
03:09and the complete opposite has happened.
03:11The stop-motion's going through a wonderful renaissance.
03:14And for our viewers that have maybe just seen this short,
03:17very short extract that we've just seen,
03:18what can people expect from watching your film?
03:21Well, my dad always said to me, he was an acrobatic clown.
03:24He said two things, make them laugh, make them cry
03:27and that's exactly what we've tried to do in this film.
03:29So, it's a weird thing to wish for, to make people cry
03:33and I love it when the lights go up in the cinema
03:35and you see the people have got out their tissues
03:37and they've had a bit of a weep.
03:39So, yeah, a bit of both, make them laugh, make them cry.
03:43How about this year's ANSI?
03:44Have you had your eye on any films in particular,
03:47any recent animations that are really impressing you?
03:50Oh, there's a wonderful film called Flow,
03:53which is about a cat
03:54and of course, there's been many wonderful films about cats
03:57but this one's very, very unique and different.
04:00It has a beautiful sound score.
04:02A French stop-motion film, Sauvages,
04:04which is about the orangutans in Borneo
04:08with an environmental theme.
04:09You know, stop-motion really is very broad
04:11and there's so much subject matter
04:14that can be captured and expressed.
04:16So, a real smorgasbord of stuff this year.
04:20Yeah, the jury prize and audience prize going to Flow there.
04:23Thank you very much for speaking to France 24, Adam Elliott.
04:26Really looking forward to seeing your film.