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The forgotten fossil hunter: Marcel Barelli brings paleontology pioneer Mary Anning back to life
For a long time, Mary Anning was only known among experts. Now Swiss animator Marcel Barelli has dedicated his first feature film to the young British woman whose discoveries laid the foundations for modern palaeontology. A conversation about historical facts, punk rock and inspiration from his own children.
The new animated film ‘Mary Anning, Fossil Hunter’ takes the audience back to 1811 on the steep south coast of England. The film centres on twelve-year-old Mary Anning, who, instead of playing with her peers, searches the cliffs for fossilised remains every day. For the young woman, this activity was not a romantic pastime, but hard work and a necessity to feed her family, who had fallen into poverty after the early death of her father.
It was her tangible success – the spectacular discovery of the first almost complete skeleton of a fish dinosaur (Ichthyosaurus) – that made Mary Anning one of the founding figures of modern palaeontology. Her later discoveries provided irrefutable evidence of prehistoric life and challenged the scientific and religious dogmas of the time.
The Story of an Unknown Woman
Although Anning is a key figure in the history of science, she has always remained unknown to the general public. This is precisely what director Marcel Barelli wanted to change, as he explained in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency. Barelli, himself a fan of palaeontology since childhood, knew Anning from specialist books. His goal was to ‘tell the story of a little-known personality whose qualities still speak to us today and whose story is powerful.’
The Ticino native, who lives in Geneva and has established himself as an expert on the relationship between humans and nature with earlier short films such as Dans la nature (awarded the Swiss Film Prize in 2022), also attaches great importance to a solid foundation in his feature film debut. Although the film accompanies Anning through her twelfth year and takes fictional liberties, the main plot lines and characters are based on thorough research. ‘It was important that what I was telling was true,’ Barelli emphasises.
Punk rock instead of historical flute
An important aspect of the film is the unconventional portrayal of the protagonist, a headstrong girl who ignores the social norms of the early 19th century. This counterculture aspect is emphasised not only in the script, but also acoustically.
Barelli deliberately decided against historical music. Instead, he chose punk rock by Shyle Zalewski for the soundtrack. ‘From the outset, I didn’t want historical music, but something that conveyed Mary’s countercultural character,’ explains the director. He admits that the choice is polarising: ‘I have noticed that the music divides opinion.’
The characters themselves are borrowed from Barelli’s private life: the protagonist Mary is modelled on the grumpy character of his 13-year-old daughter, while the curious Henry, whom Mary reluctantly has to look after, resembles Barelli’s ten-year-old son.
Although the film, which is aimed at children aged six and above, also deals with difficult topics such as the death of a father and bullying, Barelli adapted the narrative to suit a young audience in the form of a ‘kind of treasure hunt’. However, he emphasises that children’s films in general have the potential to ‘appeal to everyone, adults and children alike.’
Mary Anning, Fossil Hunter celebrated its world premiere in Annecy last June and was recently awarded the Locarno Kids Award 2025 at the Locarno Film Festival.
Marcel Barelli: The filmmaker. Born in Ticino in 1985, Marcel Barelli has been living and working in Geneva for twenty years. His short films, including ‘Habitat’ (2016) and ‘Vigia’ (2013), often deal with ecological sustainability and the relationship between humans and nature. For his feature film ‘Mary Anning’, he entrusted the graphic design to Marjolaine Perreten, as he felt her rounded, watercolour-like style was more suitable than his own ‘somewhat cartoonish and naive’ style.
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