Annecy Winners: Adam Elliot’s ’Memoir Of A Snail’ Wins Top Cristal Award
Australian director Adam Elliot ‘s stop-motion picture Memoir of a Snail has won the top Cristal prize for best feature at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
The movie gathers a starry cast led by Succession star Sarah Snook, who lends her voice to protagonist Grace Puddle, a young woman with a difficult life story who finds comfort in the hoarding of snail memorabilia.
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Memoir of a Snail is Elliot’s second feature after 2009 animation Mary and Max, and Oscar-winning 2004 short Harvey Krumpet.
In other prizes in the main Competition, Japanese director Shinnosuke Yakuwa’s Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window won the Paul Grimault Award and Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis’ Flow was feted with the Jury Award.
Flow, which world premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard to strong reviews, also won Annecy’s Audience Award as well as the Gan prize for distribution offering financial support for the release of the film in France. UFO Distribution holds French rights.
In the Contrechamp competition, aimed at features pushing the boundaries of animation story-telliing, the Contrechamp Grand Prix went to Spanish filmmaker Isabel Herguera’s feminist drama Sultana’s Dream.
Czech director Kristina Dufková won the Contrechamp Jury Award for Living Large, about a young boy bullied over his weight who decides to turn his life around.
This year’s edition of Annecy ran from June 9 to 15.
Outside of the Competitions, highlights this year included previews of Transformers One, The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim and Moana 2, as well as preview screenings of Despicable Me 4 and Inside Out 2. Find more festival coverage here.
Full list of Annecy prizes:
FEATURE FILM
Cristal for a Feature Film
Memoir of a Snail
Dir. Adam Elliot
Australia
Jury Award
Flow
Dir. Gints Zilbalodis
Latvia, Belgium
Paul Grimault Award
Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window
Dir. Shinnosuke Yakuwa
Japan
Audience Award – Feature
Flow
Dir. Zilbalodis
Gan Foundation Award for Distribution
Flow
Dir. Zilbalodis
Latvia, Belgium, France
UFO Distribution
CONTRECHAMP
Contrechamp Grand Prix
Sultana’s Dream
Dir.Isabel Herguera
Spain, Germany
Contrechamp Jury Award
Living Large
Dir.Kristina DUFKOVÁ
Czech Republic, Slovakia, France
AUDIENCE AWARDS
Audience Award – TV Films
The Drifting Guitar
Sophie Roze
France, Switzerland
Audience Award – Short Films
Hurikán
Dir. Jan Saska
Czech Republic, FranceSlovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina
TV
Cristal for a TV Production
The Drifting Guitar
Dir. Sophie Roze
France, Switzerland
Jury Award for a TV Series
My Life in Versailles “Versailles Ghost”
Dirs. Clémence Madeleine-perdrillat, Nathaniel H’limi
France, Luxembourg
Jury Award for a TV Special
Lola et le Piano à bruits
Dir. Augusto Zanovello
France, Poland, Switzerland
COMMISSIONED FILMS
Cristal for a Commissioned Film
Pictoplasma “Opener 2023”
Dir. Will Anderson
UK
Jury Award for a Commissioned Film
TED-Ed “How Did South African Apartheid Happen, and How Did It Finally End?”
Dir. Aya Marzouk
U.S, South Africa, Egypt
GRADUATION FILMS
Cristal for a Graduation Film
Carrotica
Dir.Daniel Sterlin-altman
Germany
Jury Award
Pubert Jimbob
Dir. Quirijn Dees
Belgium
Lotte Reiniger Award
Maatitel
Dir. Govinda Sao
India
VR WORKS
Cristal for the Best VR Work
Gargoyle Doyle
Dir. Ethan Shaftel
U.S., Austria, Argentina
SHORT FILMS
Cristal for a Short Film
Percebes
Dir. Alexandra Ramires, Laura Gonçalves
Portugal, France
Jury Award
The Car That Came Back from the Sea
Dir. Jadwiga Kowalska
Switzerland
Jean-Luc Xiberras Award for a First Film
Dir. Mario Radev
UK
Alexeïeff Parker Award
Beautiful Men
Dir.Nicolas Keppens
Belgium, France, Netherlands
Off-Limits Award
Glass House
Dir. Boris Labbé
France
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