Canadian Premiere
Twenty-four-year-old aspiring actor Delaney (writer-director Emily Robinson) struggles with impostor syndrome. Riddled with separation anxiety while her boyfriend Miles (Aaron Dominguez) is away filming a zombie movie, Delaney finally lands the audition of her dreams. A problem soon emerges: the producers say she has an “ugly cry.” Determined to contort herself into the pretty mask of misery that Hollywood demands of her, Delaney spirals into a botox-and-pilates fuelled obsession with her looks. As her grip on reality slips through her perfectly manicured fingers, a spectre from her past returns to haunt her.
This genre-bending psychological thriller marks an impressive feature debut for writer-director Emily Robinson, who also stars in the film. Robinson’s poignant and fantastically cringe-inducing performance is complemented by some side-splittingly comical turns from the film’s impeccable cast, including Robin Tunney (The Mentalist) as Delaney’s irreverent mother, and Melinda McGraw (Mad Men) as a fussy botox specialist. With a cheeky injection of delirium and dark humour, Ugly Cry takes a clever jab at internet-age beauty standards and gender norms.
Content Considerations: Needles, body dysphoria
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Emily Robinson, Ryan Simpkins, Aaron Dominguez, Robin Tunney
USA
2026
English
At International Village
At The Rio
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Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Debbie von Ahrens, Jim Robinson, Kyle Campbell, Troy Press, Bella Appel, Darci Price, Galileo Mondol, David Wetzel, Todd Remis
Producer
Sophia Sabella, Pablo Feldman, Jolene Mendes, Rhianon Jones, Tristan Scott-Behrends, Emily Robinson
Screenwriter
Emily Robinson
Cinematography
Brody S. Anderson
Editor
Patrick Lawrence
Production Design
Annie Becker
Original Music
Sóley Stefánsdóttir
Emily Robinson
Emily Robinson is a writer, director, and SAG Award–nominated, Special Drama Desk Award–winning actor known for her work in Eighth Grade (2018), The Year Between (2022), Private Life (2018), Edge of Everything (2023), and Transparent. Her short films have screened at numerous festivals, such as LA Film Festival, Outfest, and Frameline, and her directorial debut feature film, Ugly Cry (2026), premiered at SXSW. Robinson holds a bachelor’s degree in creative writing from Columbia University, and her debut novel, Consumed, was published in 2023.
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