New Regency, Item 7 and Oddfellows Entertainment have announced the start of filming on Canadian director Nicole Dorsey’s sophomore feature, Balestra, starring Cush Jumbo, Manny Jacinto and James Badge Dale.

The Vancouver-shot psychological thriller is being produced as a film with an alternate version to be released separately as a limited series. Imran Zaidi wrote the screenplay from an original idea by Aron Eli Coleite.

Balestra is produced by Pierre Even and Paul-E. Audet for Montreal’s Item 7, with Chris Ferguson as producer and Jesse Savath as executive producer for Vancouver-based Oddfellows Entertainment.

The project is produced with the financial participation of New Regency, Telefilm Canada, Elevation Pictures, Entract Films and British Columbia and Quebec tax credits. Worldwide sales and distribution are handled by New Regency while Elevation Pictures and Entract Films will distribute in Canada.

Jumbo, Dorsey, Zaidi and Coleite are also executive producers alongside Automatik, Elevation Pictures, Entract, New Regency and QCode.

Jumbo (Stay Close, The Good Fight; pictured top left) plays Joana, a competitive fencer who hopes to make the Olympics. Dale (24, Iron Man 3; pictured top right) plays her husband and coach who pressures her to become a test subject for a prototype device that lets her train while sleeping. Jacinto (Nine Perfect Strangers, The Good Place; pictured bottom left) plays a stranger Joana encounters as she becomes caught in a web of exhilarating new dreams and athletic aspirations.

“[Balestra] is about greatness — its perceived value and the thought that without it, you have nothing, you are nothing,” said Dorsey, in a statement.

The Toronto-and Los Angeles-based Dorsey (pictured bottom right) first made a splash with her debut feature, Black Conflux, which premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and made TIFF’s Canada’s Top Ten List.

Dorsey, Zaidi and Coleite are all represented by Grandview. Dorsey is also represented by CAA, Zaidi by UTA and Coleite by WME. Jumbo is represented by Anonymous Content, Jacinto by CAA and Alchemy Entertainment and Dale by CAA and MJ Management.