We are so excited to announce that MADELEINE YUNA VOYLES has officially joined the cast of Tall Tales! She will be portraying the lead role of ADELINE. 

Born and raised in San Diego, Madeleine made her professional feature film debut in the Gareth Edwards sci-fi epic, THE CREATOR (2023), where she starred opposite John David Washington. She received critical acclaim for her performance as "Alphie" — garnering a Critics’ Choice nomination for Best Young Actress (the first ever in history for a young actress of Southeast Asian descent)! This year, Madeleine was the recipient of the CAPE 2024 RADIANCE Next Gen Award and Scholarship. The Next Gen Award is a celebration of AAPI Women in entertainment, recognizing the next generation of young and promising talent. After discovering Madeleine in a global casting search, Gareth Edwards called her "a director's dream" and we couldn't agree more!



When her mother dies, a young girl and her newfound companion embark on a journey to bring her back, guided by the “Old World” myth that a birthday wish can make any dream come true.

The year is 2541 and twelve-year-old Adeline knows nothing other than a frugal existence in the desert. One night, her Mama tells her a bedtime story. In the "Old World," Mama says, people used to eat a magical, sweet treat called ‘birthday cake.' When adorned with candles, and blown out, your very biggest wish would come true. When Mama dies in a dust storm, Adeline finds herself orphaned and alone… until she’s struck with a brilliant idea.

If she can bake a cake, light some candles, and blow them out – she can wish for Mama to come back to life.

Adeline dutifully sets out to find sugar, flour, and salt — the luxury ingredients of the past that Mama said would make the most basic of cakes. Along the way, she runs into a young runaway boy named Orion, who she convinces to help her. Through it all, Adeline is guided by her naive optimism and belief in the “Old World” myths, while Orion is more hardened by the real world, knowing that many stories do not have happy endings. As they search for these mythical ingredients, they will encounter those who either seek to hurt or help them...

This “New World” has serenity of an apocalypse settled. Society has waned, and again grown from nothing. When we first find Adeline, she is living in the arid, isolated “Sands”— an empty rolling desert. She has never seen fresh grass, nor anything close to rivers and streams. However, as Adeline and Orion search for their ingredients, the world will open up before them — transitioning from the dry desert to lush green landscapes, just like the world Adeline and Mama always dreamed about. As such, their journey becomes just as much about self-discovery and adventure as it is about Adeline's initial goal. Adeline also uses her mother's stories about the "Old World" to guide her journey – as if her mother herself is leading the way.

ADELINE is our precocious protagonist. She’s headstrong, with a sense of naive confidence that comes from a sheltered upbringing. Adeline fully believes in the Old World myths her Mama has told her — both of them dreamers, constantly looking to the past for comfort. We intend to cast an AAPI/BIPOC actress in this role.

Coming from a broken family, ORION has had to learn to survive on his own as a young child. So, although he’s younger than Adeline, he’s had a lot more life experience. From the get go, the kids have opposite ideologies; Adeline believes in the birthday wish, while Orion does not believe in fairytales. The two serve as foils to one another — teaching the other trust and friendship as they navigate their journey.

The tone of the film will be reminiscent of films like Beasts of the Southern Wild, The Florida Project, and Where the Wild Things Are — all stories of children attempting to find their place through a journey balancing childhood innocence against a mature world. Visually, we hope to go for a pared down visual style that elicits that grounded tone — almost documentary like — which will also work within our low-budget constraints. 

Set in the distant future, Tall Tales presents a number of challenges for us to overcome as a creative team, starting with its dystopian setting. We intend to film the entirety of Tall Tales in SoCal, which, luckily, already hosts all of of our location needs — from arid deserts, to woody forests and glistening coastlines. With a modest VFX budget and intentional scouting, we also plan to place "vestiges of the past" (such as ruins and wreckages) in key shots to further sell this future world.

Collaborating with child actors and their limited working hours is another obstacle in our path. With less time for each shooting day (7 hours max) and required set teachers on location — our days are extended and our budget is inflated. Determined to run a healthy environment for our young actors, we will use our funds to cast, prep, and shoot accordingly.

Our campaign goal of $30,000 will help bring Tall Tales to life on the big screen. This budget will secure the rest of our production costs and allow us to film this ambitious story in its full scope. These funds will contribute towards essential pieces for our project, including the following:

• Renting locations of vast diversity across the SoCal region
• Assembling our cast, filled with recognizable onscreen talent and gifted newcomers
• Supporting an accomplished crew around our core team
• Working around the time constraints of child actors
• Building fully-realized sets and props for an immersive visual experience
• Securing essential camera and gear equipment for the shoot
• And much more!

Our project's timeline will take us through Fundraising in Early 2024. Then, we will steadily weave through Pre-Production in the Spring and commence Production in Summer. From there, we will complete the film's Post-Production steps through the rest of the year and aim for Festival Submissions in Early 2025.

Lana Nguyen (Writer/Director)

Lana Nguyen is a 24-year-old Vietnamese-American filmmaker. In 2021, she graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts with a BFA in Film & Television Production and minor in Entertainment Industry - where she was honored as a Jon M. Chu Scholar for her commitment to telling diverse stories. Her short film FRESH PEACHES, which follows Vietnamese refugees, played at festivals such as CAAMFest and the DC Asian American Film Festival. Her animated short, MONSTERS OF MINE, which she completed via zoom during the pandemic, won the ‘Best Animation’ award at First Look and the ‘Audience Favorite’ award at Florida Animation Festival. She currently works at Reese Witherspoon’s company, Hello Sunshine, which elevates female-centered stories. Lana gravitates towards character driven stories, and often, coming of age stories told from young perspectives.

Rhys Kroehler (Producer)

Rhys Kroehler graduated from the University of Southern California’s Film & Television Production program in 2021. He is currently working under a partner in William Morris Endeavor’s Motion Picture Literary department. Prior to WME, Rhys worked with Oscar-nominated managers/producers Laura Berwick, Becca Kovacik, and their client Kenneth Branagh on a number of projects including 2021’s BELFAST and 2023’s A HAUNTING IN VENICE.

Anmol Bajpai (Producer)

Anmol Bajpai is a 25-year-old Indian-American filmmaker. He graduated from the University of Southern California's Annenberg School in 2021 and is set to return to the school for the MFA Film & Television Production program in the fall. He currently works at 21 Laps Entertainment under Academy and Emmy award-nominated director Shawn Levy and producer Dan Levine on a number of projects including the recent series ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE and the upcoming series THE PERFECT COUPLE.

Justine Chen (Production Designer)

Justine Ellen Chen is a genderqueer, Chinese-American production designer working in Los Angeles. Chen is primarily interested in the way that environments can hold a story and become fluid, temporal archives. Their practice is greatly informed by their commitment to showcasing real complexity of underrepresented identities on the screen. This personal ethos adds to their work as a rising production designer and art director (ADG Local 800), allowing them to bring texture, memory, and emotion to the spaces they design and curate. Chen’s work has been shown at festivals such as Palm Springs ShortFest, Tribeca Film Festival, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, and Frameline, and has some work currently streaming on Disney+.

Tre'len Johnston (Cinematographer)

Tre’len Johnston is a Los Angeles-based visual artist specializing in still and moving imagery. He graduated with a B.F.A. in Film and TV Production from the University of Southern California in 2020. He has since worked on numerous short films, music videos and commercials with clients including Netflix, Maserati and H&M.