A short film about snails.

An award-winning film, no less!

There are infinite ways you can tell stories about the environment, because the environment is everywhere, everyone, everything.

Back in the spring I noticed that when it rained, the hedges along my street became inundated with snails. I took great pleasure in watching dozens of them explore the hedges, the flowers, the tiny world around them, and took time to notice the shapes of the shells, the designs, the many thousands of differences between them.

I wanted to tell their story on film, but rather than creating a straightforward fact-based documentary I thought I’d try something a little more experimental.

To me, snails are the definition of slow living. They’re in no rush. They’re not stressing about getting the new iPhone on midnight release. They’re not obsessively checking Instagram for new likes and follows. They’re not endlessly pursuing the next Big Thing or trying to appease their boss or feeling insecure about their fashion sense. They just are.

I wrote a short poem about slow living and pushing back on the ridiculousness of modern capitalism, and paired it with footage of the snails. I made it for me, but if it resonates with others then that’s great to.

It seems like it has - the short film has been screened at a couple of short film festivals and won the Natural World Award at the Lion of Light Awards last month. So if you fancy slowing down for a couple of minutes, enjoy the film below and feel free to share.