Bittersweet comedy 'Babyteeth' has swept this year's AACTA Awards, picking up seven prizes at Monday's ceremony including Best Film and Best Direction for debut filmmaker Shannon Murphy.
What's your favourite Australian film of the last decade?
Alex White and Jan Chapman went to see Rita Kalnejais’ hit play 'Babyteeth' at Sydney’s Belvoir St Theatre on the same night back in 2012. By interval, the two had made a beeline to each other: they knew it had to be adapted for screen.
Ben Mendelsohn, casting director Kirsty McGregor, Australian Cinematographers Society national president Ron Johanson and the ABC's Sally Riley are among the Aussies recently invited to join the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science (AMPAS).
US distributor IFC Films and sibling IFC Midnight have set multi-platform launch dates for Shannon Murphy’s 'Babyteeth' and Natalie Erika James' 'Relic', but release plans for Australia are yet to be settled.
"I don't think it's any secret that the distribution and exhibition space for movies that aren't tentpole is getting tougher and tougher all the time. People want to watch things at home. I like to watch things at home. And people's TVs are amazing."
Shannon Murphy’s debut feature 'Babyteeth', a bittersweet comedy starring Ben Mendelsohn, Essie Davis, Eliza Scanlen and Toby Wallace, has been acclaimed by critics after its world premiere in official competition at the Venice International Film Festival.
What might have been a disaster for the Finlay family leads to letting go and finding grace in the glorious chaos of life. When seriously ill teenager falls madly in love with a smalltime drug dealer, Moses, it’s her protective parents’ worst nightmare. Things get messy and morals go out the window as the lives of those around the family: a sensitive music teacher, a budding child violinist, a disarmingly honest pregnant neighbour become intertwined and Milla shows those in her orbit how to live like you have nothing to lose. In a story about life, grief and the chaos of family, 'Babyteeth' joyously explores how far we will go for love and how good it is to be alive.