Oscar-winning Australian director Adam Elliot is at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival with his long-awaited second stop-motion feature Memoir of a Snail, which world premieres in the main competition.

Set in 1970s Australia, the movie gathers a starry cast led by Succession star Sarah Snook, who lends her voice to Grace Puddle, the unfortunate female protagonist who finds comfort in the hoarding of snail memorabilia after a life punctuated by emotional setbacks.

Recounting her life to her pet garden snail Sylvia, Grace reveals her various trials and tribulations, which range from being born with a cleft palate to separation from her beloved, misfit family as a child and then heartbreak as an adult.

One bright spot in her journey is the figure of Pinky, an eccentric old lady with an exotic past, who teaches Grace to look forward, rather than back.

Snook is joined in the voice cast by Jacki Weaver as Pinky,...