
02 05 2018 - Media release Bittersweet comedy Babyteeth green-lit for production
Stars of Babyteeth Ben Mendelsohn and Essie Davis
Screen Australia has announced major production funding for Babyteeth, a bittersweet comedy feature starring Ben Mendelsohn (Ready Player One, Animal Kingdom) and Essie Davis (Game of Thrones, The Babadook).
Shannon Murphy will make her feature film directorial debut, with a script based on the successful play by Rita Kalnejais. Babyteeth will be produced by Alex White and executive produced by Jan Chapman (Bright Star, The Piano). Create NSW are also investing in the title, with Australian distribution by Entertainment One (eOne) and international sales by Celluloid Dreams.
I'm delighted to be working with such a strong and gifted female team in producer, Alex White and director Shannon Murphy interpreting Rita Kalnejais' vivid, insightful and funny screenplay about how precious life is, said executive producer Jan Chapman. We so appreciate the support of Screen Australia, Create NSW, WeirAnderson.com and Spectrum Films along with our distributor Entertainment One for Australia and international sales agent Celluloid Dreams, whose imaginations Babyteeth captured and who were all essential in enabling Rita's fresh and original voice to move to production. To have Ben and Essie illuminate that voice is perfect.
Babyteeth is the first feature for Australian development and production company Whitefalk Films following the success of short films Trespass (Winner of Best Australian Short Film, MIFF 2017) and Florence Has Left the Building (Winner of Best Short Film at the Australian Academy of Cinema & Television Arts Awards 2015).
Babyteeth is a bittersweet comedy what might have been a disaster for the Finlay family leads to letting go and finding grace in the glorious chaos of life, as Henry (Mendelsohn) and Anna (Davis) realise their seriously ill teenage daughter Milla has fallen madly in love with a drug dealer, Moses. This romance is Milla's protective parents' worst nightmare but Milla doesn't want to play it safe anymore. Things get messy and morals go out the window, as the lives of those around the family their disarmingly honest pregnant neighbour, a brilliantly flawed music teacher, a child violin prodigy and Moses' family become intertwined.
I first saw Rita Kalnejais' humorous and profoundly moving play Babyteeth at Sydney's Belvoir Street Theatre in 2012 with executive producer Jan Chapman, said producer Alex White. Rita's exquisitely delicate examination of the life of a teenage girl and the people who constellate her was a life-affirming experience. It felt like the perfect work to be translated to screen.
Sally Caplan, Screen Australia's Head of Production said: The combination of distinguished experience, top cast and dynamic emerging talent bodes well for this distinctive, emotionally challenging, but darkly funny and affirming screenplay. This film will resonate with Australian and international audiences. We are excited to see Shannon Murphy make her feature film debut, having worked on some impressive and popular television dramas including Love Child and Offspring.
Grainne Brunsdon, Acting Executive Director of Create NSW said: Babyteeth made its stage debut at Sydney's Belvoir in 2012, and we are delighted that Create NSW is involved in bringing the production to the screen with such a high calibre of talent involved. It is particularly pleasing to see a great female creative team onboard, including Academy Award nominee Jan Chapman and AFTRS graduate Shannon Murphy and that this film promotes emerging talent with Alex White following her impressive start with short filmmaking."
Production Credit: Babyteeth is a Whitefalk Films production with major production investment from Screen Australia in association with Create NSW, and was financed with the support of WeirAnderson.com, Whitefalk Films, Jan Chapman Films and Spectrum Films. It was developed by Whitefalk Films in association with Katherine Slattery and Jan Chapman with the assistance of Screen Australia, Create NSW and Waking Dream Productions. Australia/New Zealand distribution through Entertainment One and international through Celluloid Dreams.
Entertainment One Ltd. (LSE:ETO) is a global independent studio that specialises in the development, acquisition, production, financing, distribution and sales of entertainment content. The Company's diversified expertise spans across film, television and music production and sales, family programming, merchandising and licensing, and digital content. Through its global reach and expansive scale, powered by deep local market knowledge, the Company delivers the best content to the world.
Entertainment One's robust network includes newly-launched MAKEREADY with Brad Weston; content creation venture Amblin Partners with Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks Studios, Participant Media, and Reliance Entertainment; leading feature film production and global sales company Sierra Pictures; unscripted television production company Renegade 83; world-class music labels Dualtone Music Group and Last Gang; and award-winning digital agency Secret Location.
The Company's rights library is exploited across all media formats and includes more than 80,000 hours of film and television content and approximately 40,000 music tracks.
Celluloid Dreams has been at the forefront of international sales, production, and financing of quality independent films for more than 30 years. Its Directors Label stands for the discovery and subsequent promotion of a large number of the most important, awarded and respected film directors of our times, the future classics'. Celluloid Dreams Cannes line-up includes Jafar Panahi s 3 FACES competing for the Palme d Or, SCHOOL S OUT by S basti
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
23/10/2025
A deadline is looming for a new carriage deal between Verizon's Fios TV and Nexstar, with both Verizon and the pay TV-backed American Television Alliance bl...
23/10/2025
NEW YORK During a high-profile session at NAB Show New York, new survey data was shared that revealed significant public concern over artificial intelligence (A...
23/10/2025
BELLEVUE, Wash. and NEW YORK Fox Weather has tapped T-Mobile has as its preferred communications provider and announced that all Fox Weather reporters are being...
23/10/2025
PBS and Amazon Web Services have announced the network is using generative AI to provide enhanced search results to viewers on the PBS App and PBS LearningMedia...
22/10/2025
Prime Video Inks Deal To Present NFL Black Friday Game Worldwide By SVG Staff
Wednesday, October 22, 2025 - 10:06 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story ...
22/10/2025
NBA Tip-Off: ESPN Goes 1080p HDR End-to-End, Flipping HDR Switch on REMI and REM...
22/10/2025
FloSports Empowers Division II, III Athletic Departments With Turnkey Production...
22/10/2025
Wall Street Video Summit Debuts, Bringing Together 200 Financial Enterprise Vide...
22/10/2025
Dueling Pianos: International Chopin Piano Competition Is as Competitive as a Ba...
22/10/2025
In 1995, a young Colombian artist released an album that would change Latin pop ...
22/10/2025
Over the past few months, a photovoltaic system has been installed on a three-he...
22/10/2025
The Orion spacecraft for NASA's Artemis II mission is stacked on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kenn...
22/10/2025
L3Harris' Hybrid SATCOM is resilient by design, offering path diversity that eliminates vulnerabilities by routing data across the best available networks i...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. Organizers of NAB Show New York said they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countries along with 260 exhibitor...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C The organizers of The 2025 NAB Show New York have announced that they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countr...
22/10/2025
Masque Sound, a leading theatrical sound reinforcement, installation and design company, supplied an extensive gear package of professional-grade equipment for ...
22/10/2025
Lightware, a global leader in signal management and AV connectivity solutions, is seeing strong market momentum for the UCX-3x3-TPX-RX20, a compact transmitter-...
22/10/2025
MELVILLE, N.Y. Chyron has released PAINT 10.2, the latest update for its telestration platform, adding support for SMPTE ST 2110 IP workflows, expanding brandin...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON Run3TV today said NBCUniversal is joining as an investor in the ATSC 3.0 Framework Authority, which develops the Run3TV NextGen TV application platfo...
22/10/2025
ATLANTA swXtch.io will feature two new networking solutions extending the company's reach across more cloud and on-prem workflows at NAB Show New York, set ...
22/10/2025
The Warner Bros. Discoverys HBO Max streaming services has increased prices for all its streaming tiers effectively immediately for new customers. Existing cust...
22/10/2025
LOS ANGELES OpenDrives has signed a new distribution partnership deal with Versatile Distribution Services (VDS) to strengthen its channel and streamline how it...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C The organizers of The 2025 NAB Show New York have announced that they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countr...
22/10/2025
Samora Pinderhughes Brings Immersive Sound to Berklee's Signature Series The artist and composer, who's worked with Herbie Hancock, Robert Glasper, Co...
22/10/2025
BMI Day at Berklee Celebrates Composer Fil Eisler and Awards Scholarship to Stud...
22/10/2025
October 22nd, 2025 TRIBECA ANNOUNCES STAR-STUDDED LINEUP OF MEMBERSHIP EVENTS F...
22/10/2025
Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF cooperate in drone defense Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF partner to deliver a comprehensive drone defense solution combining Rohde & S...
22/10/2025
European Broadcaster Upgrades To Grass Valley's NativeIP LDX 135 Cameras And...
22/10/2025
Everyone Gets a Better Deal on Verizon with New FOX One Perk The $15 FOX One streaming service perk is yet another way Verizon continues to add savings for cu...
22/10/2025
First Look Hidden Assets Series 3
Premieres on 9th November 9:30pm on RT One & RT Player
WATCH HERE Promo Link: Hidden Assets Series 3 | RT
The Crimin...
21/10/2025
NAB New York 2025: Although AES Show Is on Its Own, Audio Will Be a Major Part o...
21/10/2025
NAB New York 2025: Business of Broadcast and Media,' Future of Content'...
21/10/2025
SVG All-Stars: Ethan Folz, Senior Director, Digital Operations and Quality of Ex...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: Livestream Offers Graphic Overlays, Predictive Gaming, Ancil...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: At the Front Bench With Producer Frank DiGraci and Director ...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: NBC Sports, NEP Build Ultra-Flexible Production Plan That Se...
21/10/2025
Indigenous storytelling has been at the heart of the work of the Sundance Instit...
21/10/2025
Top L-R: Mysterious Skin, American Dream Second Row L-R: Little Miss Sunshine, D...
21/10/2025
Last week, Spotify and Columbia Records transformed Pier 4 at the Brooklyn Army ...
21/10/2025
SBS Learn's Dharug Ngurra resource empowers classrooms to meaningfully celeb...
21/10/2025
As global operators simplify and evolve their digital platforms, NPS improvement...
21/10/2025
Critical Design Review completion is a key milestone on the path toward Wideband Global Satellite Communications certification for the network in 2026, opening ...
21/10/2025
New Australian undersea training range to implement and improve warfighting tactics, proficiency and safety; enable joint/allied training that contributes to pr...
21/10/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
21/10/2025
September, the beginning of autumn, brought an expected revival to the TV market, largely due to the new fall TV schedules. The time spent in front of the TV sc...
21/10/2025
Broadcast Booms with 20% Uptick vs. August, Achieving Largest Monthly
Increase ...
21/10/2025
During September, streaming's share of TV viewing in Mexico settled at 24.5%, a marginal shift of -0.5 share points from the previous month.
Disclaimer: YU...
21/10/2025
RENNES, France BBright and GlobalM have conducted a technical trial validating Ultra HD interoperability across the entire contribution chain in the cloud, achi...