Mary Anning (MIFF Schools)

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The story of a pioneering female palaeontologist, whose discoveries – at just 12 years of age – changed our understanding of prehistory.

Pre-teen Mary Anning loves nothing more than scouring the local seaside cliffs on fossil-finding expeditions with her father, who encourages her passion. It’s an activity typically frowned upon for a girl in 1811 – and, when her father dies suddenly, it seems like the grieving Mary’s dinosaur-hunting career is over before it started. But he leaves behind a mysterious drawing that might offer the one chance she has to change her fortunes … and, in so doing, change the world.

Inspired by the true story of the groundbreaking English fossil collector of the same name, Locarno Kids Award winner Marcel Barelli’s debut feature is built on a bedrock of enchanting handcrafted 2D animation. Exploring a key moment in Anning’s much-mythologised but little-known childhood – the discovery of the world’s first complete identified ichthyosaur skeleton – and accompanied by a deliberately anachronistic soundtrack of lo-fi punk rock, Mary Anning is a big-hearted tale of friendship and adventure for the young and not-so-young alike.

“A sensitive and poetic film which imposes itself without shouting and screaming … a powerful rebellion against the sexism and social determinism which continues to suffocate (too) many voices.” – Cineuropa