story
In 1811, Mary Anning, an inquisitive and tenacious twelve-year-old girl, spends her days searching for fossils. Her father passed on this passion to her, but her life suddenly changes when he disappears, leaving behind a mysterious drawing and a struggling family. Determined to help her mother and brother, Mary tries to uncover the secret of the drawing. She will discover so much more than just fossils: friendships, adventures, and the very start of palaeontology.
author
Born in 1985 in Lodrin, Switzerland. An animated film director and picture book author, Barelli lives and works in Geneva. He loves animals and nature, which is why he develops all his projects in connection with them. His short films have been selected for numerous international festivals, where they have won many awards. Mary Anning is his first feature film.
filmography (selection)
2022 Autosaurus Rex
2024 Martha
2025 Mary Anning
“Mary Anning is a poor girl, barely making it through the day, and society looks at her with disapproval. Her strength is in her consistency, her determination. She embodies the positive force that I wanted to convey in the film; she insists on continuing to do what she loves, something right and important.” - Marcel Barelli
Mary Anning Mary Anning
Screenings
LIFFe / Kinobalon at LIFFe
directed by Marcel Barelli , screenplay Marcel Barelli, Pierre-Luc Granjon, Magali Pouzol , animation Maelle Chevallier, editing Maelle Chevallier, music Shyle Zalewski , producers Nicolas Burlet, Arnaud Demuynck, Tatjana Kozar , world sales Be For Films,
festivals, awards Annecy 2025, Locarno 2025
IMDbThursday, 11. 09. 2025
Kinobalon na LIFFu 2025 - za šole in vrtce
Začutite festivalsko vzdušje tudi s šolo ali vrtcem: filmi za otroke in mlade z vsega sveta. Med 12. in 23. novembrom 2025.
What's On
New Classmates Novi sošolci
Toni Cahunek
Wednesday, 22. 10. 2025 / 10:00 / Main Hall
Slovenia’s economy relies on workers from Kosovo. But how does society accept their children? The documentary New Classmates explores the background of Kosovar immigration and the challenges their children face integrating into a new country. It highlights the stories of four children of immigrant families and their parents, who face various obstacles due to their ethnic background and limited knowledge of the Slovenian language.
Wisdom of Happiness Wisdom of Happiness
Barbara Miller, Philip Delaquis
Wednesday, 22. 10. 2025 / 15:30 / Small Hall
With disarming wit, the Dalai Lama reflects on balancing millennia-old Tibetan Buddhist traditions with the contemporary values of our globalised society that now struggles to overcome violence and war while standing on the brink of environmental collapse.
Fiume o morte! Fiume o morte!
Igor Bezinović
Wednesday, 22. 10. 2025 / 17:30 / Small Hall
On 12 September 1919, a troop of some three hundred soldiers under the leadership of the flamboyant war-loving Italian poet Gabriele D’Annunzio swooped into the Northern-Adriatic port town of Fiume, now Rijeka, wanting to annex the city to Italy. Over the course of the next 16 months, during what is regarded as one of the most bizarre militant sieges of all time his official photography team captured over 10,000 images. A century later, Igor Bezinović orchestrates a direct-action history lesson focused on the siege and its modern-day implications.