Have you ever wondered what the poor, gay, Midwest version of Paris Hilton would look like roller skating? Well, we have two; and, it's their fourth time on wheels. Born from the pandemic comes Roller Babiez, Linnie & Zay! After an early morning skate sesh along Chicago's Lakeshore Trail, the Girlies find themselves in a pickle after losing their car keys. Follow them as they save their pet cat, learn the power of friendship, and have some magical encounters; all while on eight wheels!

We've been working hard running around Chicago's Lake Shore Trail capturing ROLLER BABIEZ and we're almost done! We have just two more days of shooting to go and have begun our journey in post-production. We've already enlisted the talented Yuxin Liu to help compose our music and are currently searching for a sound designer, editor, and colorist.

The characters in this feature build out the world and our actors bring them to life! Here are just a few of the characters you'll see around Lake Shore Trail:

Daisy Allen / Zay

Daisy Allen has a little bit of everything under her belt. She is a visual artist, actor, makeup artist, drag queen, dancer, singer, and filmmaker. Daisy has been featured in drag at the Chicago Pride Festival (2021), and done gymnastics across the Detroit Opera House stage (Faust, 2022). Daisy and Edwina have produced a short film "Coming Over:)" starring and written by Daisy herself.

Edwina Luokkala-Burckhardt / Linnie

Edwina Luokkala-Burckhardt is a Chicago-based Opera singer, actor, and creative. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theater and continues to use her education to create stories. Edwina has been fortunate to work on a wide variety of creative projects from musicals to feature films. She was honored to be in the chorus of Detroit Operas Cavalleria Rusticana while also appearing in Indie Films such as Year One. In her free time, she loves to create stories with her co-writer and better half Daisy Allen in their writing duo: The Bimbos. Together they also wrote and directed a short film called Coming Over.

Rey Tang / The Skateboarder

No stranger to the hustle, Rey Tang is excited to strike out on her own and work with other like-minded passionate creatives. She’s especially excited about work that is related to trans*, queer, and POC narratives. It’s her dream to one day tell stories that honor the communities she’s a part of. Rey graduated from Northwestern with a degree in Radio/TV/Film, she pursued a concentration in Creative Writing for Media and Advanced Directing for the Screen. Her short films have been screened in festivals such as NFMLA, Asian CineVision, CineYouth, Chicago OnScreen, and many more. Likewise, in 2022, she was selected as part of the Warner Bros. Discovery Early Career Bootcamp. Later that year, she also premiered LDR Season 1 Vol. 1, a web series about queer long-distance relationships that Rey wrote, starred in, and produced. In 2023, her feature in development Back to Sixteen was selected as part of the Femme Fatales fellowship Fatales Forward. Currently, she performs improv as part of Stir Friday Night and loves making portraits of people on 35mm film.

Tuxford Turner / The Manslaughterer

Tuxford Turner (tux/they/them) is a non-binary actor, comedian, and producer currently based out of both Chicago and Los Angeles. They are a resident company member at the world-famous iO Theatre and have shared a stage with comedy legends all over both cities. Tuxford made their television debut this year on AMC's "You are Here with Colman Domingo," and is slated to appear in three upcoming features, most notably playing Auggie, the lead role in "BAM!"

During shooting, we stayed true to our comps and don't think fans of The Simple Life, Barbie, Starlight Express, Jawbreaker, or Sailor Moon will be disappointed!

We plan to submit to NewFest and other LGBTQ+-focused film festivals. With a diverse cast, passionate about queer + trans rights, we believe that we have the team and story that would be perfect for these festivals.

Additionally, we also plan to organize screenings around the Chicagoland area and beyond with a Q&A component to talk about the importance of sharing stories about queerplatonic relationships and the power of friendship. We'd also love to collaborate with local LGBTQ+ organizations to build community.

We are desperate girlies! Let us know if there is anything else you'd like to contribute! Do you own or have a connection to a restaurant that could provide meal catering for our final pick-up days? Do you know of other individuals or companies that might be interested in collaborating with us? Do you know someone with excellent film festival knowledge? We’d love to work with you! If this is you or you think you have even MORE to offer, email us at [email protected].