Wild Butterfly
Wild Butterfly is true crime documentary that follows the tragic story of 24 year-old Claire Murray and her desperate search for a life-saving liver transplant that became a trial by national media.
Artemis Media
Invasion Films
Synopsis
Wild Butterfly is true crime documentary that follows the tragic story of 24 year-old Claire Murray and her desperate search for a life- saving liver transplant that became a trial by national media.
Depicted as an ungrateful junkie who recklessly destroyed her first transplant, Wild Butterfly investigates the true story behind the events that lead to Claire’s death in 2010 including new criminal evidence.
Catholic institutional cover-up, medical negligence, missing police records, and trial by mainstream and social media, are all at play in this heartbreaking and gripping documentary. This is not just the tragic story of one young woman and her family – this story opens our eyes to the impacts of universal social injustices and prejudices, that could befall any family and anybody’s daughter.
Filmed and Post Produced in Western Australia
on the Traditional Country of the Noongar Whadjuk peoples
Watch the trailer
Production Information
Writer & Director
Shireen Narayanan
Producers
Shireen Narayanan
Celia Tait
Executive Producers
Shireen Narayanan
Celia Tait
Key Cast
Ashleigh Zinko
Rose Mckenna
Daniel Luxton
Distributor
FanForce Films (INT)
Key Locations
Perth
Key WA Crew
Director of Photography
Michael McDermott
Editor
Lawrie Silvestrin
Production Designer
Lawrie Cullen-Tait
Composer
Michael Westlake
Sound Design
Ric Curtin
A careful process
This film has had a very slow 9-year incubation
– not least because it required painstaking research to put it together. Claire’s medical records were accessed through Freedom of Information. It took many years to obtain her school records. Writer/ Director Shireen Narayanan’s clinical background gave her an in-depth understanding of the information she uncovered. This informed the script.
Photo credit Sabine Albers
Photo credit Sabine AlbersAbout the Director
Wild Butterfly is Shireen’s first feature and first foray into writing and directing drama.
Her psycho-therapeutic background brings a unique lens to the exploration of the complex emotional dimensions of Claire and her family’s universe; as well as the family’s heartbreaking and confronting journey amidst the dark shadow of sexual violence, drug dependence and stigma.
Production Gallery
Sabine Albers
Sabine Albers
Lawrie Silvestrin
Sabine Albers
Sabine Albers