Adam Elliot
Credit: MATT IRWIN
World
Oscar Winner Adam Elliot ‘Strives for Imperfection’ as Sarah Snook-Voiced ‘Memoir of a Snail’ Debuts Teaser (EXCLUSIVE)
“Memoir of a Snail,” directed by Oscar winner Adam Elliot – and voiced by “Succession” star Sarah Snook – has debuted a teaser ahead of its premiere at Annecy.
Australian theatrical release, via Madman, is set for Oct. 17.
In the film, little Grace Puddle is separated from her twin brother Gilbert following their parents’ deaths. Things only get worse from there, she later admits to a garden snail named Sylvia – the only creature interested in her tragic story.
“I gravitate towards the underdog. People who are perceived as different, marginalized. I am not interested in heroes. It’s probably because I am ultimately making films about myself. I really empathize and identify with my characters,” the director told Variety.
“The truth is, they are all based on real people: they just happen to be my family and friends. In [previous film] ‘Mary and Max,’ Max was based on my pen pal, who is still alive. ‘Memoir of a Snail’ has a lot of my mother. We call her a ‘reformed hoarder,’ but she still collects.”
Despite his characters’ “imperfections” and numerous hardships they go through, Elliot – who won Academy Award for 2003 short “Harvie Krumpet” – continues to root for them.
“Someone said to me recently: ‘You really drag your characters through the mud.’ But they’ve had so much bad luck that by the end of each film, when they finally triumph, you are on their side,” he pointed out.
Grace, hiding behind objects cluttering her house, keeps experiencing loss, rejection, sadness and solitude. And yet “Memoir of a Snail” is full of warmth.
“I’ve always loved that quote that without darkness, light has no meaning. There is a bit of this Australian, self-deprecating humor in there as well. I want the audience to laugh, but if I can get them to shed a tear, I really feel like I’ve achieved something. My father was an acrobatic clown and he used to say: ‘Adam, you are not an ‘auteur,’ you are an entertainer. Make them laugh and make them cry’.”
Despite his affection for Ken Loach or Mike Leigh, Elliot is sticking to stop-motion.
“I get asked why I don’t make live-action and it’s really simple: in stop-motion, you have creative control and you can push the boundaries of the art form. You can have a dark moment and a light moment almost simultaneously. In ‘Cousin’ [made in 1998] you find out our character’s parents were killed in a car accident while he is wearing a T-shirt that says: ‘I yodel for Jesus.’ Also, I just can’t help myself: I love peculiar deaths.”
Or older mentors. In the film, Grace finally finds a friend other than her beloved snails: it’s an eccentric lady called Pinky, who encourages her to come out of her shell.
“There is wisdom that can come with age. Now, there is a bigger gap between generations, so what could bring us together? Simple pleasures. Pinky teaches Grace how to be brave, because yes, she is like one of these snails. She’s constantly recoiling from all this trauma.”
“Originally, it was supposed to be a ‘Memoir of a Ladybird,’ but it felt a little bit twee. I love drawing snails and I collected them as a child. When I write my screenplays, I don’t think about all the practicalities. After the 10th draft or so, I went: ‘Oh gee, now I will have to make thousands of these things.’ I never want to see another snail ever again!”
He will continue making films he believes in, however.
“I’ve had offers [from bigger studios] and financially, I should have said yes. But I am a megalomaniac: I prefer to write and direct my own films, and I have my niche. Still, with my next project, I want to be even more ambitious. All my budgets are very low, so there’s always compromise – in ‘Memoir,’ there is very little walking. Or talking, which is why I use voiceover.”
Once again, his film is narrated by a starry cast, from Sarah Snook to Jacki Weaver, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Eric Bana. Previously, he has collaborated with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Geoffrey Rush or Toni Collette.
“Everyone says: ‘Adam, why do you always go for these Academy Award-winning actors?’ Because they are good! Sarah, in many ways, directed me. I am not necessarily striving to have globally recognizable names – I am striving for authenticity. I told Sarah: ‘I just want you to be yourself.’ The investors love stars, but I don’t mention them at the beginning of my films, for example. I don’t want the audience to think about the actors until the end credits.”
Instead, he wants them to look into his characters’ eyes. Literally.
“Even though these are blobs of clay, they break the fourth wall and look straight at you. They are asymmetrical and deformed-looking, but they also have this endearing quality.”
Born with a physiological tremor, Elliot has incorporated it into his work.
“When I draw, my lines are wobbly, so my 3D characters are versions of my 2D drawings. A lot of stop-motion has become very slick, but my characters’ psyches are fractured. I always tell my collaborators: ‘Put in the fingerprint, put in the lump. Pretend you’ve had a glass of wine and you are a little bit tipsy.’ It’s all about striving for imperfection.”
An Arenamedia production, “Memoir of a Snail” was produced by Elliot and Liz Kearney, and executive produced by Robert Connolly and Robert Patterson. Anton & Charades handle international sales; the film is distributed by IFC for North America and Wild Bunch for France.
World
Minneapolis on edge after fatal shooting of woman by ICE officer
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minneapolis was on edge Thursday following the fatal shooting of a woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer taking part in the Trump administration’s latest immigration crackdown, with the governor calling for people to remain calm and schools canceling classes and activities as a safety precaution.
State and local officials demanded ICE leave the state after 37-year-old Renee Nicole Macklin Good was shot in the head. But Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said agents are not going anywhere.
The Department of Homeland Security has deployed more than 2,000 officers to the area in what it says is its largest immigration enforcement operation ever. Noem said more than 1,500 people have been arrested.
Macklin Good’s killing Wednesday morning in a residential neighborhood south of downtown was recorded on video by witnesses, and by the evening hundreds of people came out for a vigil to mourn her and urge the public to resist immigration enforcement. Some then chanted as they marched through the city, but there was no violence.
“I would love for ICE to leave our city and for more community members to come to see it happens,” said Sander Kolodziej, a painter who came to the vigil to support the community.
The videos of the shooting show an officer approaching an SUV stopped across the middle of the road, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the handle. The Honda Pilot begins to pull forward, and a different ICE officer standing in front of it pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moves toward him.
It is not clear from the videos if the vehicle makes contact with the officer, and there is no indication of whether the woman had interactions with ICE agents earlier. After the shooting the SUV speeds into two cars parked on a curb before crashing to a stop.
In another recording made afterward, a woman who identifies Macklin Good as her spouse is seen crying near the vehicle. The woman, who is not identified, says the couple recently arrived in Minnesota and they had a child.
Noem called the incident an “act of domestic terrorism” against ICE officers, saying the driver “attempted to run them over and rammed them with her vehicle. An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively, shot, to protect himself and the people around him.”
President Donald Trump made similar accusations on social media and defended ICE’s work.
Noem alleged that the woman was part of a “mob of agitators” and said the officer followed his training. She said the FBI would investigate.
But Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called Noem’s version of events “garbage.”
“They are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense,” Frey said. “Having seen the video myself, I wanna tell everybody directly, that is bullshit.”
He also criticized the federal deployment and said the agents should leave.
The shooting marked a dramatic escalation of the latest in a series of immigration enforcement operations in major cities under the Trump administration. Wednesday’s is at least the fifth death linked to the crackdowns.
The Twin Cities have been on edge since DHS announced the operation’s launch Tuesday, at least partly tied to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents.
A crowd of protesters gathered at the scene after the shooting to vent their anger at local and federal officers.
In a scene that hearkened back to crackdowns in Los Angeles and Chicago, people chanted “ICE out of Minnesota” and blew whistles that have become ubiquitous during the operations.
Gov. Tim Walz said he was prepared to deploy the National Guard if necessary. He expressed outrage over the shooting but called on people to keep protests peaceful.
“They want a show,” Walz said. “We can’t give it to them.”
There were calls on social media to prosecute the officer who shot Macklin Good.
Commissioner Bob Jacobson of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety said state authorities would investigate the shooting with federal authorities.
___
Dell’Orto reported from St. Paul, Minnesota. Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis, Ed White in Detroit, Valerie Gonzalez in Brownsville, Texas, Mark Vancleave in Las Vegas, Michael Biesecker In Washington, Jim Mustian in New York and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.
World
‘Irregular’ armed guards aboard Russian shadow tankers alarm Nordic-Baltic governments
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The seizure of a Russian-linked oil tanker in the North Atlantic has highlighted “worry” among NATO and Nordic-Baltic governments over dark fleet vessels and the type of crews onboard, according to a maritime intelligence analyst.
U.S. military and Coast Guard personnel boarded the Marinera between Iceland and the U.K. Wednesday as it operated under deceptive shipping practices, including flying a false flag and violating sanctions.
According to Reuters, Russian authorities demanded the humane treatment and repatriation of the crew members.
Windward maritime intelligence analyst Michelle Wiese Bockmann claimed the Marinera’s ownership had just been transferred to Burevestmarin LLC, a Russian company.
TREASURY TARGETS OIL TRADERS, TANKERS ACCUSED OF HELPING MADURO EVADE U.S. SANCTIONS
U.S. forces seized the Russian-flagged Marinera oil tanker in the North Atlantic Sea Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, according to the U.S. military. (US European Command)
“We do not know the status of these sailors and seafarers, who are Russian nationals,” Wiese Bockmann told Fox News Digital. “That lack of clarity is common with dark fleet tankers.
“The Marinera did have its ownership transferred to a newly formed Russian company, with the registered owner, ship manager and commercial manager being Burevestmarin LLC.”
She also suggested NATO and the Nordic-Baltic 8+ group of governments have been “worried” about sanctioned oil tankers with unauthorized personnel onboard, including “armed guards.”
WORLD’S BIGGEST OIL RESERVE HOLDER FACES US CHOKEHOLD AS TRUMP TARGETS VENEZUELA’S SHADOW TANKER FLEET
U.S. forces seized the Russian-flagged Marinera oil tanker in the North Atlantic Sea Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, according to the U.S. military. (US European Command)
“Increasingly, and I know the Nordic Baltic 8+ governments are worried about the fact that you are having unauthorized people also on board, also known as armed guards,” Wiese Bockmann said. “But it is highly irregular.
“Armed guards are rarely seen and typically used on ships that are transiting the Gulf of Aden or the Red Sea and are therefore assessed as at risk from attack by Houthis or pirates,” she added.
After the seizure, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt rejected Russian demands for special treatment of the Marinera’s crew during her regular briefing Wednesday.
“This was a Venezuelan shadow fleet vessel that had transported sanctioned oil,” Leavitt said.
“The vessel was deemed stateless after flying a false flag, and it had a judicial seizure order. And that’s why the crew will be subject to prosecution.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it was “closely following” the situation, according to the state-run TASS news agency.
US COAST GUARD PURSUES THIRD ‘DARK FLEET’ OIL TANKER AS TRUMP TARGETS VENEZUELAN SANCTIONS EVASION NETWORK
A crude oil tanker waits its turn to be loaded with crude oil at Lake Maracaibo in Maracaibo, Zulia State, Venezuela, May 9, 2025. (Federico Parra/AFP/Getty Images)
Wiese Bockmann noted that dark fleet crews are often multinational, typically involving a Russian master with Chinese, Indian or Filipino crew members.
“There is a blurring of commercial and military shipping around the dark fleet,” she said. “What we’re seeing now is something that has really only emerged in the last six or seven months.”
European authorities have also begun holding crews accountable, particularly when captains are “facilitating dangerous deceptive shipping practices, such as spoofing and going dark,” she explained.
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“The EU recently sanctioned the captain of a tanker who refused orders from the Estonian navy (Jaguar) to be stopped for inspection last May. And the French charged a captain over his refusal to comply with orders and failure to justify a flag’s nationality after authorities intercepted a dark fleet tanker in the Atlantic last October,” Wiese Bockmann added.
As previously reported by Fox News Digital, a second vessel, the M. Sophia, was also boarded in international waters near the Caribbean while en route to Venezuela.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.
World
Saudi-led coalition says STC’s al-Zubaidi fled to UAE via Somaliland
DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,
Secessionist leader took a boat to Berbera and then boarded a plane that flew to Abu Dhabi via Mogadishu, coalition says.
Published On 8 Jan 2026
The Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen has announced that the leader of the secessionist Southern Transitional Council (STC) has fled to the United Arab Emirates via Somaliland after skipping planned peace talks in Riyadh.
In a statement on Thursday, the coalition said Aidarous al-Zubaidi “escaped in the dead of night” on Wednesday on board a vessel that departed Aden in Yemen for the port of Berbera in Somaliland.
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Al-Zubaidi then boarded a plane along with UAE officers and flew to Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu. “The plane turned off its identification systems over the Gulf of Oman, then turned it back on 10 minutes prior to arrival at Al Reef military airport in Abu Dhabi,” the statement said.
There was no immediate comment from the STC or the UAE.
If confirmed, the move could deepen the feud between Saudi Arabia and the UAE that came to light after the Abu Dhabi-backed STC launched an offensive against the Riyadh-backed Yemeni government troops in December.
The STC – which initially supported Yemen’s internationally recognised government against the Houthi rebels in northern Yemen – is seeking an independent state in southern Yemen. It seized the provinces of Hadramout and Mahra, which border Saudi Arabia, in a campaign that Riyadh described as a red line for its national security.
The Saudi-led coalition responded with air strikes on the Yemeni port of Mukalla on December 30, targeting what it called a UAE-linked weapons shipment, and backed a call by Yemen’s internationally recognised government for Emirati forces to withdraw from the country.
For its part, Abu Dhabi denied that the shipment contained weapons and expressed a commitment to ensure Riyadh’s security. On the same day, it announced an end to what it called its “counterterrorism mission” in Yemen.
Yemeni government troops, backed by Saudi Arabian air attacks, went on to reclaim Hadramout and Mahra, and the STC said on Saturday that it would attend peace talks hosted by Saudi Arabia.
But the coalition said al-Zubaidi was not on board the Yemeni Air flight that took the STC delegation to Riyadh on Wednesday.
It launched strikes on al-Zubaidi’s forces in Yemen’s Dhale governorate, while Yemeni government’s ground forces moved on the STC controlled Aden and seized the presidential palace in the city.
The head of the internationally recognised government’s Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, has meanwhile announced that al-Zubaidi has been removed from the council for “committing high treason”.
Al-Alimi said he has asked the country’s attorney general to launch an investigation against al-Zubaidi and take legal action.
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