About the director

Adam Elliot is an Australian director, screenwriter and, above all, animation artist from Melbourne. To create his short and feature-length films, which have won hundreds of awards worldwide, he uses the animation technique of claymation, in which the characters and environments are created from mouldable craft clay. They are then brought to life with the help of stop-motion animation. His films are imbued with a unique, bittersweet charm that is also evident in his instantly recognisable art style, full of imperfections and specific oddities. Elliot is the first homosexual man to win the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film.

Press reviews

“Elliot has crafted a whimsical world, one that feels inspired by the work of Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet in films like “Delicatessen” and “Amelie” [...]. Some sequences have an exaggerated, fantasy aesthetic, but it’s all grounded just enough in reality to allow its emotions to register. What I’m saying is don’t expect talking snails. This is a story of an ordinary life in many ways, made extraordinary by how beautifully it’s told.” (Brian Tallerico, Roger Ebert)

The director about the film

“It’s taken me decades to find and develop my particular aesthetic, and I’m really proud and protective of that. It’s hard to come up with a look that’s original and unique. I call my aesthetic “chunky wonky,” which means every single character, set and prop is slightly asymmetrical, a bit rough around the edges. It comes from a physiological tremor I inherited from my mother, which she got from her father. It means I shake a bit. When I was young, I was really frustrated by that [...]. But like so many of my characters, I took this thing I wish I didn’t have and learned to embrace it. It’s become my style, and I’m so glad I have this shake because maybe my films would look far more refined and less distinguishable if I didn’t have it. You’ve got to embrace your imperfections.” (Adam Elliot in an interview with Variety)