by Federico Grandesso
VENICE, Italy, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Australian film director Shannon Murphy illustrated the significance of sharing emotions in her film Babyteeth presented at the 76th Venice Film Festival.
The film tells about ill teenager Milla who falls in love with small-time drug dealer Moses, which turns out to be her parents' worst nightmare. Milla's first brush with love brings her a new lust for life, as her "imperfect" new boyfriend gives her something special at the tragic moments of her life.
The gift Moses gave to Milla is that he not only heals her but also gives her an opportunity to live life exactly the way she wants to, which is something that her parents were unable to do because they can't connect to that, said Murphy.
At these difficult moments, "Don't block yourself. Don't desensitize yourself from it," the director said.
She also underlined the important role of family, saying "when a child is unwell, the family might shut themselves off from the rest of the world because they need to pay all their attention to the child. I think the family that have done this can really make a change."
Murphy regarded cinemas and theaters as important locations for people to share emotions. "It is the place where you can come and hear information and think about how it might affect you, and possibly go out and connect to different people," she told Xinhua in a recent interview.
"We live in the time where cinemas and theaters become some kind of new places of worship," the director stressed the importance of cinemas. "Losing a loved one is something that nobody will ever get recovered from. You will become a different person because of it, and you will always move through life differently but knowing that I have shared the experience in the cinema with other people watching it. I think it's a form of healing."
Murphy thinks that we have to give people an opportunity to watch films on these topics.
Asked about how she managed to avoid being too sentimental like a typical Hollywood production when portraying a dying girl, the director said "I don't like something that is too cheesy and I don't want to be over dramatic. For me it is necessary to be active in experience, (but) I just don't want it to be laid on me."
All films are manipulative in some ways, but Murphy doesn't want the audience to be hand-held through it all the way. I want them to be connected to themselves.
