Disney Pixar has unveiled 25 minutes of footage from their new film Elio, to select press in a special preview presentation event.

Pixar's latest feature sees 11-year-old Elio (Yonas Kibreab) be abducted by aliens. In the Communiverse, pitched by the filmmakers as the United Nations but in space, Elio meets an eclectic cast of alien characters and goes on a personal journey to figure out where he belongs.

Producer Mary Alice Drumm was in attendance to introduce the film and take part in a post-screening Q&A. Drumm kicked off proceedings with a presentation on making the film. She showed an array of concept art and animation tests, explaining design ideas such as how Earth is more monochromatic compared to the colourful, deep-sea-inspired Communiverse to see the universe through Elio's eyes.

Drumm also revealed initial sketches for standout character Glordan and explained that “Finding [the] balance of disturbing and adorable was a challenge.” An animation test of Glordan wriggling with excitement argues that they might have succeeded in that challenge. Rounding out the behind-the-scenes presentation, Drumm noted some of the key themes of Elio being “the joy of finding your people” and “family and belonging.”

Guided by directors Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi in pre-recorded sections, Disney played the emotional opening scenes of Elio, his first time entering the Communiverse, a scene with Elio and Glordan bonding, and finally a short sequence where Elio and his Aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña) expose their feelings to each other. In FILMHOUNDS' eyes, what was shown looked promising. Evoking a mix of big laughs and heartfelt emotion within a visually unique world, Elio has all the ingredients of a classic Pixar original.

After seeing the film, FILMHOUNDS got to ask about how alien the Pixar team could take their out-of-this-world character designs. Drumm revealed, “When we first started, we tried to do a lot of research with looking at a tonne of old sci-fi movies, and I think because of the limitations of technology when you watch a lot of those movies, it's often a person in a suit trying to be the alien. So we had the goal of not [doing] that […] But there's some [designs] that are so bizarre and weird. The aliens we had were a little more abstract but people felt a little disconnect. So we actually added some eyes, even in the ink-face character. We'd have her ink-face, rorshach test, make eyes at certain points to try to create more of a relatability.”

Elio will be released in UK cinemas on 20 June.