Details
Union:
Union
Area of media:
Short Film
Network:
Paid?:
Yes
Rates:
ACTRA – LBG Tier 3 Rates
Deadline:
Mar 10, 2026
Shooting starts:
Aug 1, 2026 (o/a) - fittings/rehearsals in March/April
Shooting finishes:
Sept 1, 2026 (o/a) - 3 day shoot within this time
Shooting locations:
Toronto
Cities for response:
Toronto
Comments
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER: Lee Lawson is a Neurodiverse Toronto-based filmmaker and performer whose work explores embodied storytelling, intimate female experience. As an actor her work has screened at TIFF, on HBO, in installation at the AGO and most recently at Cannes through Telefilm's NSOT program. As a director her work has been featured at SXSW and on CBC Radio’s Here and Now and supported by Ontario Art Council, The Chalmers Fund, Canada Council for the Arts, The National Filmboard of Canada, Panavision and WFW's.
Storyline
Polycepolis is an experimental movement based short film.
Polycephaly is the condition of having more than one head.
Polycepolis is a place where every being is two people in one suit.
The film explores the experience of being part of a couple through a neurodiverse lens.
All roles/ characters in this project will be played by actors who compose one half of the “polycep” couple, ie. each “couple” will be composed of two actors wearing one suit (so they look like one body with two heads).
The world of Polycepolis is populated by beings who have to negotiate every single movement and share every single moment with another person. Their happiness is completely tied to their other half.
A note from neurodiverse filmmaker, Lee Lawson is that through this piece she hopes to embody and literalize the joy, comedy, horror, and drama of being bound to another person, as well as the reality of finding the strength to stand on your own – in direct opposition to ableist norms.
The world of Polycepolis mirrors our own. Through our casting, we aim to reflect the rich diversity of abilities, ethnicities, orientations, genders and neurotypes that make up our world.
The story follows a female member of a ‘Polycep’ couple named Adev as she witnesses the partnerships that surround her. She watches the ways that others manage to find happiness, mourn loss, transgress boundaries and find fulfillment in an effort to understand her sense of disconnection.
Ultimately, she realizes that she cannot be happy bound to another. She must be reborn as her OWN person.
This is an Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council For The Arts funded short film.
Polycephaly is the condition of having more than one head.
Polycepolis is a place where every being is two people in one suit.
The film explores the experience of being part of a couple through a neurodiverse lens.
All roles/ characters in this project will be played by actors who compose one half of the “polycep” couple, ie. each “couple” will be composed of two actors wearing one suit (so they look like one body with two heads).
The world of Polycepolis is populated by beings who have to negotiate every single movement and share every single moment with another person. Their happiness is completely tied to their other half.
A note from neurodiverse filmmaker, Lee Lawson is that through this piece she hopes to embody and literalize the joy, comedy, horror, and drama of being bound to another person, as well as the reality of finding the strength to stand on your own – in direct opposition to ableist norms.
The world of Polycepolis mirrors our own. Through our casting, we aim to reflect the rich diversity of abilities, ethnicities, orientations, genders and neurotypes that make up our world.
The story follows a female member of a ‘Polycep’ couple named Adev as she witnesses the partnerships that surround her. She watches the ways that others manage to find happiness, mourn loss, transgress boundaries and find fulfillment in an effort to understand her sense of disconnection.
Ultimately, she realizes that she cannot be happy bound to another. She must be reborn as her OWN person.
This is an Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council For The Arts funded short film.
Roles
| Role type | Role | Gender & Age range |
| Actor | Olin's Wife | Female 55 - 80 Years old |
Description A gentle, older woman who is very ill/ near the end of her life. This role will involve being part of a Polycep (aka being in a suit with the role that plays her husband - Olin). This role will be seen and perform in the Garden of Earthly delights shoot (see script attached) where she's alive and then have a head cast done for the grocery store sequence where the character is deceased. | ||