Mary and Max

Mary and Max is a 2009 Australian animated drama film written and directed by Adam Elliot and was his first animated feature film. The film was produced by Melanie Coombs and Melodrama Pictures with music by Dale Cornelius. The voice cast includes Philip Seymour Hoffman, Toni Collette, Eric Bana and Bethany Whitmore, with narration provided by Barry Humphries. The film follows the lives and friendship of two unlikely pen-pals; Mary, a lonely Australian girl, and Max, a middle-aged American man with Asperger syndrome. The film is inspired by Elliot's relationship with his "pen-friend" in New York whom he has been writing to for over twenty years. The film premiered on the opening night of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival on 15 January 2009. The film won the Annecy Cristal in June 2009 from the Annecy International Animated Film Festival and Best Animated Feature Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards in November 2009. The film was also nominated for both the AACTA Award for Best Film and the AACTA Award for Best Original Screenplay in December 2009. The film was theatrically released on 9 April 2009, by Icon Entertainment International; it received acclaim from critics.