‘Balestra’, a Psychological Thriller About Fencing, Will Star Tessa Thompson and Marwan Kenzari

Get ready for some thrilling fencing! Balestra, a psychological thriller about the competitive combat sport, will star Tessa Thompson and Aladdin‘s Marwan Kenzari, with Nicole Dorsey directing. The story follows an Olympic fencer trying to stage a comeback, only to fall into a “web of subconscious desires and unfulfilling reality.”

Deadline has the scoop on the psychological thriller Balestra, offering up the following synopsis:

Balestra follows disgraced competitive fencer Joanna Bathory (Thompson), who is desperately hoping for an Olympic comeback. Pressured by her husband and coach Rafe, she receives a prototype device allowing her to extend her training into her sleeping hours. By day she’s on the piste, and by night she’s lucid dreaming. But reality begins to blur when she encounters a stranger named Elliot (Kenzari) and gets caught in her own web of subconscious desires and unfulfilling reality.

In the sport, the balestra move is “a jump forward in fencing followed by a lunge.” It looks like this.

I can’t say the sport of fencing excites me very much, but I’m all-in on watching Tessa Thompson wield a sword. Regarding the film, Thompson said:

“Like the sport that Balestra explores, the conception of this piece is sharp and riveting – its is a fascinating look at the price of winning, and what trouble dreams can become when our sense of self worth, reality and identity are tethered too tightly to them. To embark on this journey, both in front of the lens and behind it, with Nicole Dorsey and this phenomenal team is a dream to me – a most beautiful one.”

Thompson will also executive produce the film. The script comes from Imran Zaidi, based on an original story by Aron Eli Coleite (who is also executive producing), with by Nicole Dorsey directing. Dorsey said: “To be working alongside the incredibly gifted and perceptive Tessa Thompson on this psychological thriller, ripe with themes of obsession, desire, prestige and fluctuating realities is quite literally a director’s filmic dream.”

Balestra is currently in pre-production and plans to start shooting as soon as everyone’s schedules allow.

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