Discover the magic behind Adam Elliot's remarkable Claymation style with a display of handmade sets, props and characters from Memoir of a Snail. To coincide with the international premiere of Academy Award® winning writer/director Adam Elliot's Memoir of a Snail during the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), we are displaying a series of handmade sets, props and characters from the film.

See the creative and technical processes of stopmotion Claymation, presented through a selection of the thousands of items that were meticulously handmade by a skilled team of artists. Shot frame by frame, the film contains no CGI; every prop, set and character is a real, tangible object.

Explore Adam Elliot’s imagining of iconic Melbourne locations, such as Brunswick Street and Luna Park, and get to know the characters through a selection of puppets. Grace’s snail-themed collection will be on display, as well as the eccentric iterations of Pinky’s character. Alongside these selected props, sets and characters, the display will also feature Adam’s hand drawn storyboards and behind the scenes footage of the animators at work.

About Memoir of a Snail Memoir of a Snail is a bittersweet memoir of a melancholic woman called Grace Pudel – a hoarder of snails, romance novels and guinea pigs. Grace’s life is marked by misfortune and loss. After their paraplegic former juggler father dies, Grace and her brother Gilbert are​ placed in separate foster homes in Canberra and Perth. Overwhelmed with loneliness Grace withdraws into her shell, much like her beloved snails, until an elderly eccentric woman called Pinky comes along and strikes up an unlikely friendship.