Hollyoaks actor, Emmett J Scanlan, is taking his new film, Charlie Casanova, across to Australia to open the Melbourne Underground Film Festival.

During the festival the film, for which Scanlan was been awarded  the 2011 European Independent Film Festival award for Best Actor for his role as the title character, will be shown with a number of Irish features in a new section throughout the nine-day event.

A further six low-budget Irish independent films will be screened from August 24 to 28 for their budget and creativity efforts on the big screen, throughout the prestigious event.

Scanlan told the Irish Herald:  “I’m delighted that despite the personal bashing Charlie Casanova got at home, the rest of the world is embracing it like the b****** child it was meant to be,”

“I’m truly honoured to be part of this movie.”

Scanlan, who is dating Hollyoaks co-star Claire Cooper (Jacqui McQueen) in real life, plays the lead role of Charlie in the film, an unhinged Casanova who uses a deck of cards to decide his every move, in a dark tale of modern Ireland.

The film, which was released in Ireland last May and has been nominated for IFTA, was made on a very limited budget and relayed heavily on social media to put together a production crew.

Charlie Casanova has also received recognition from the European Independent Film Festival, the Galway Film Fleadh and the Washington Festival.

Scanlan, who plays notorious bad boy, Brendan Brady, on the hit Channel 4 soap, told the newspaper how he would like to take on more film roles in the future:

“I’ve strong connections in Hollywood and an agent there, but my loyalty lies with Hollyoaks and this team which have given me opportunities.”

Watch the official trailer for Charlie Cassanova in the clip below: