Memoir of a Snail is a stop-motion film directed by Oscar winner Adam Elliot and voiced by Sarah Snook (Succession). It has released its debut trailer ahead of the planned premiere at Annecy. 

The film follows Grace Puddle at the beginning of her sad story, who is separated from her twin brother after the death of their parents. She later meets Sylvia, the garden snail, the only creature interested in her tragic tale. 

Elliot said in an interview with Variety that he gravitates toward the underdogs, as they reflect a piece of his own story. “Someone said to me recently: ‘You really drag your characters through the mud.’ But they’ve had so much bad luck that by the end of each film when they finally triumph, you are on their side.” He believes that by exploring these darker stories, different generations might be able to connect over both the dark and the light aspects. Elliot also said he is always rooting for his characters, no matter what he puts them through. 

The film itself pulls from many of Elliot’s personal experiences explaining how “Memoir of a Snail has a lot of my mother. We call her a ‘reformed hoarder,’ but she still collects.” The theme of snails comes from Elliot’s childhood love of snails, as he told Variety. 

Elliot was born with a physiological tremor, a condition that has found its way into his work. “When I draw, my lines are wobbly, so my 3D characters are versions of my 2D drawings. A lot of stop-motion has become very slick, but my characters’ psyches are fractured. I always tell my collaborators: ‘Put in the fingerprint, put in the lump. Pretend you’ve had a glass of wine and you are a little bit tipsy.’ It’s all about striving for imperfection.” 

The Australian theatrical release of Memoir of a Snail will be on Oct. 17, via Madman.