May 16, 2024

IFC Films Acquires North American Rights to Adam Elliott's "Memoir of the Snail"

IFC Films, a subsidiary of AMC Networks, has acquired the North American rights to its latest stop-motion project, Memoir of a Snail, from Australian filmmaker Adam Elliot. The animated drama will be world premiere next month in a major feature film competition at Annecy.

Elliott is best known for his Festival Five Harvey Clampett (2003), a short animation that won dozens of honors including an Academy Award. His first feature, Mary and Max, which was released at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009, was also distributed by IFC Films. IFC did not give the United States to previous films. Theatrical release, this is a situation that will hopefully change for this film.

Here is the official synopsis for the Memoir of the Snail:

In Australia in the 1970s, Grace's life was plagued by misfortune and loss. After their mother dies during pregnancy, she and her twin brother, Gilbert, are raised by Percy, the father of a paraplegic alcoholic former juggler. Despite his loving life, tragedy strikes anew when Percy passes away in his sleep. The brothers are forcibly separated and pushed into separate houses. Realizing that Gilbert is taking care of a cruel evangelical family, Grace grapples with intense loneliness, gradually retreating into her shell, like the snails she employs. As the years go by, and despite new disappointments and sorrows, when she strikes a lasting friendship with an older quirky woman called Pinky, the voice cast of Hope

will include Sarah Snook, Eric Bana, Kodi Smit McPhee, Dominic Pinon and Magda Szubanski. The show features Jackie Weaver, who plays the lead role in the film, as well as the lead actor in the film.

In a statement to Deadline, which first reported the news of the Ifc acquisition, Elliot said:

It is an honor to once again partner with indie cinema, especially IFC, which truly understands the inherent requirements for handling stop-motion animation. My film is personal and somewhat eccentric, but knowing that IFC has the skills and nuances needed to bring my story to new and existing audiences, I am so excited that they will partner to spread Grace's melancholy story to film lovers who like to laugh and cry at the same time.