‘Memoir Of A Snail’ Director Adam Elliot Breaks Ranks With Animation Norms: “They’re Not For Kids” — Contenders Film: The Nominees

deadline.com:

Drawing on his own life experiences and inspired by friends and acquaintances he’s met along the way, filmmaker Adam Elliot has landed himself an Academy Award nomination for his decidedly not kid-friendly stopmotion film Memoir of a Snail.

Nominated for Best Animated Feature, the pic explores the life of Australian girl Grace Pudel from childhood, where she is befriended by her eccentric neighbor Pinky, through her adult years.

Grace fills her lonely life by hoarding all the snail-themed products and collectibles she can find. “Grace is sort of an amalgamation of a lot of people and also myself,” Elliot said. “Primarily, she’s based on a very good friend of mine who was born with a cleft palate.

As a little girl, she had a lot of operations on her mouth and was quite disfigured and, unfortunately, at school was bullied and teased.