Country: Australia
Year: 2024
Duration: 15
Leah, an aspiring model, arrives at the studio of rising star photographer, Hamish, nervous and excited at the prospect of her big break. As the shoot progresses, Leah does everything she can to appease Hamish’s high standards, but when he begins to cross physical boundaries, Leah is faced with the prospect of denying him at the risk of her career. Unable to reveal her pain, Leah makes the decision to bury everything and find a way to just move on. Months later, she comes face to face with a poster for Hamish’s latest exhibition. It’s her, nude, face covered in tears…
Biography
film director
Eugénie Muggleton
(Australia), director and screenwriter, from naturalistic dramas to sci-fi dystopias, she creates and consumes contents and stories to make sense of the world, exploring the invisible marks we leave on each other and creating complicated and diverse female characters. Her work has screened at festivals at home and abroad, with premieres at Flickerfest and Sitges. Since 2021, she has been directing at Australia’s longest running serial drama, Neighbours, and is currently writing a feature.
FILMOGRAFIA
2043 (cm, 2014), Dress in Black (cm, 2016), Small Hands (cm, 2016), Blue Games (cm, 2017), Neighbours (serie tv, 2022-2024), Beautiful Smile (cm, 2024).
Declaration
film director
“Beautiful Smile is based on our lead actress’ own very real experience. Understanding it started after finally mentioning it to a friend – the writer. That’s where the script came from. I was drawn to it because it captured how intangible some violations are. A feeling so many of us know, but struggle to put into words. And I’m not the only one. It struck a nerve with our mainly female crew, and our audience. It’s uncomfortably, and somehow, reassuringly real—at once upsetting and validating.”
Cast
& Credits
DIRECTOR: Eugénie Muggleton. STORY: Azaleia Bradley. SCREENPLAY: Nicholas Jaquinot. CINEMATOGRAPHY: Josh Farmelo. EDITING: Emily Robb. PRODUCTION DESIGN: MJ Kim. SOUND: David Williams. CAST: Azaleia Bradley, Nicholas Jaquinot, Tegan Crowley, Ruby Duncan, Jack Power-Walters, Jess Kennedy. PRODUCTION: Katarina Anik per Newcharacter Production.
CONTACT: New Character Prods newcharacterprod@gmail.com
