Rosemary Dunsmore (Professor Susan Duncan in “Manacled Slim Wrists“) will be Lorraine in the surrealistic thriller THE TOLL. Cami (Jordan Hayes) is heading home, having been picked up at the airport by Uber driver Spencer (Max Topplin). As they navigate dark forest roads, their phones suddenly die and the car stops altogether. Spencer suggests they wait for another car to pass by, but Cami is beginning to believe he may have orchestrated the whole thing, so she abandons the car and searches for the nearest house but all she finds is Spencer’s car again. Cami and Spencer are now in the Toll Man‘s world, and the toll required to depart is a death. But it could be that only one of them has to die. Nicole Power of KIM’S CONVENIENCE is also in the cast. THE TOLL will premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas on 15 March , and will be released in Russia on 3 September .

Alison Steadman (Kendall Malone in “Transgressive Border Crossing“) will be Guinevere in the period drama THE KING’S MAN, a prequel to the KINGSMAN trilogy, a series of action-comedy films based on the comics by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons. (The trilogy follows the missions of The Kingsman, a fictional secret service organization.) In the prequel, several of history’s worst tyrants and criminals get together to plan a destructive war. Director Matthew Vaughan told Ruth Kinane of EW: “I wanted to scratch an itch that I’ve had for ages in making a movie [like] the big, epic adventure films that I grew up on. There was ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, ‘The Man Who Would Be King’, ‘Doctor Zhivago’. The last time I saw a film like that, ironically, was with Ralph in ‘The English Patient’ where the screen was filled and I really went on an adventure. Making a movie like that on this sort of scale is not exactly easy to raise money for so I thought if I entwine that into the King’s Man universe, Hollywood wouldn’t be as scared of it. You have to con these guys to make good films!” THE KING’S MAN is expected to be released in the US on 18 September .

Millie Davis (Gemma Hendrix in “Variable and Full of Perturbation“) will be the voice of Lamya, a young Syrian refugee, in Alexander Kronemer’s animated fantasy LAMYA’S POEM. Faran Tahir, who voices Rumi’s father in the movie described the story very well in an instagram post. “A beautiful story about a young refugee girl fleeing violence and war who finds a book of poetry by the celebrated 13th century poet, Rumi. The book becomes a magical gateway where she meets the young Rumi when he was a refugee, escaping the terrible wars of his time. In a shared dream world populated by monsters and other threats that represent the perils they face on their respective journeys, she must help him write the poem that 800 years later will save her life.” The young Rumi is voiced by Mena Massoud. Producer Sam Kadi will present a teaser at the Marché du Film in Cannes (12-21 May).

Jessalyn Wanlim (Evie Cho in “The Redesign of Natural Objects“) is Joanie in PINK SKIES AHEAD, a film based on the essay “No Real Danger” from Kelly Oxford’s second book: “When You Find Out the World is Against You — And Other Funny Memories About Awful Moments“. Jessica Barden stars as Winona, a young woman who drops out of college, moves in with her parents (her mother is played by Marcia Gay Harden), and is diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Written and Directed by Kelly Oxford, PINK SKIES AHEAD has completed filming in and around Los Angeles. It will have its US premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas on 13 March .

Wanlim is also Liz in the short film ABBY & EMILY GO TO PALM SPRINGS. Abby (Jesse Cohen) and Emily (Victoria Ortiz), who have just started dating, head out on their first vacation together. Their journey to Palm Springs shows us a slice of their relationship as it evolves in real time (with occasional intrusions from their friends). Director Hellin Kay said in a statement: “Abby & Emily is so personal, which is a little (very) scary and makes me feel exposed and out of my comfort zone. I wrote it months before I even thought about making it, because it was THAT SCARY to put it out into the world, something this private and personal. But then I remembered who I had been in my teens and 20s, how nothing scared me back then; not other people’s opinions, or rules or judgments and I realized I really miss that girl. She’s back now. This film is for her.” Kay’s website says the film is “coming soon in 2020.”







