A monthly film series promoting professional and community education on issues pertaining to mental health and illness. Presented by The Cinematheque and the Institute of Mental Health, UBC Department of Psychiatry. Screenings are generally held on the third Wednesday of each month at The Cinematheque, 1131 Howe St, Vancouver, BC.
Memoir of a Snail
Australia 2024
Director: Adam Elliot
Wednesday May 21, 2025 @ 7:00pm
The Cinematheque (1131 Howe St)
Film Description
“A weirdly affecting tragicomedy … Memoir of a Snail feels heartfelt and personal, like an exhortation to the downtrodden drawn from hard-won life experience.” – Alissa Wilkinson, The New York Times
Recently nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, Adam Elliot’s tragicomedy recounts the misfortunes of a misfit named Grace who becomes obsessed with snails. After she is separated from her twin brother Gilbert, traumatic events and failed relationships compound and lead to a myriad of mental health conditions including hoarding, kleptomania, and depression. To cope, a melancholic Grace becomes an ardent collector of romance novels and guinea pigs. Eventually her loneliness is alleviated by an unlikely but sweet friendship with an eccentric elderly woman named Pinky, whose lust for life offers Grace a glimmer of inspiration and hope. A stop-motion feat worthy of the big screen, Elliot’s poignant tale features over 200 handmade claymation puppets, rivalling a Tim Burton production. The medium is particularly suited to exploring the imperfections of the human condition, including its most agonizing and beautiful quandaries.
This screening is co-sponsored by the UBC Psychiatry Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. FREE TICKET: The first 10 members of the Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry who email Terena Zhao at psychiatry.divisions@ubc.ca to RSVP will obtain a free ticket!
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“Memoir of a Snail’s family-entertainment approachability belies a strange intensity … There are some candid hints, through the obviously personal narrative touches, that in this film some very real adult pain and anger is being hidden in plain sight—or, actually, not at all hidden.” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
Post-screening Discussion:
Post-screening discussion with Dr. Wolfgang Linden, a Professor Emeritus in Clinical and Health Psychology at UBC.
Dr. Wolfgang Linden has written over 170 peer-reviewed articles and book chapter and seven books, including an undergraduate textbook in Clinical Psychology that first appeared in 2011, a second edition in 2018, and a third edition in preparation. He previously served as president of the British Columbia Psychological Association, and also the Canadian Psychological Association. For four decades now, he volunteered as an advocate for improved mental health care in British Columbia and Canada. His current focus for advocacy is the reduction of adverse childhood events
The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Harry Karlinsky, the Series Director of Frames of Mind and a Clinical Professor in the UBC Department of Psychiatry.
Want to be a regular at Frames of Mind screenings on the third Wednesday of every month? Subscribe to the email list and be the first in line for tickets!
