Hi! I'm Gabby, a French and Australian writer/director based in London.

I’ve teamed up with an incredible group of filmmakers - including BAFTA-winning cinematographer Toby Lloyd, rising producers Skye Wilson and Angel Jordan from Working Title (The Substance, Bridget Jones) and CANADA's Managing Director Marta Bobić - to create TUSSLE, a short film about MMA and youth mental health.

We’re raising £19,800 by the end of December to make this film in February 2026 and bring it to BAFTA/Oscar-qualifying festivals and youth organisations across the UK.

1. ABOUT THE FILM

Logline: After being ostracised for hooking up with a popular boy at a high school party, Eliza starts attending a mixed martial arts gym where she finds emotional release. However, she ends up taking her new coping mechanism too far.

Genre: Coming of age drama.

Details: 15 mins. Shot on 16mm.

Short Synopsis: During an after school dance class, Eliza, a high school student, gets noticed by a popular student Emil. That night, she hooks up with him at a house party. Though she is initially excited about this, the next morning when she returns to school… things have changed. Eliza becomes the target of cold glances and malicious texts. Her best friend Sean off-handedly mentions that it’s not that people don’t like her, simply that they’ve “lost respect” for her.

That evening as she walks home, Eliza hears grunts coming from a nearby door. She discovers a tucked away MMA gym. She decides to peer in and eventually joins the training sessions. As the bullying escalates at school and she does her best to hold things in, she starts to attend the gym more and more. It's the only place where she finds emotional release. That is, until one final event pushes her over the edge.

2. WHY THIS FILM MATTERS

Teens currently spend an average of 7 hours and 22 minutes a day online, where curated feeds and group chats shape how they see themselves and each other. For girls especially, these spaces often reinforce outdated ideas about femininity, sexuality, and social status: rewarding passivity, and punishing desire. These regressive attitudes, propelled by polarising figures like Andrew Tate and TikTok ‘tradwives’, are alarmingly back in vogue, rebranded as ‘truth-telling’. In this climate, Tussle's story of shame, desire, and emotional release is urgent - exposing the quiet damage being done to young people.

Think about the nation-wide conversations that were started by the Netflix show ‘Adolescence’. Tussle will serve as a similar cultural ‘breaking-of-the-ice’ when it comes to modern gender roles and the mental health of young people.

We will bring Tussle to:

We will also be partnering up with UK mental health charities to bring further awareness to youth mental health as well as including some of the young people affected by these conditions as supporting artists in the film.

Tussle is also promoting young women in fight sports. Our hope for the film is that it will open the door to having more females participating in mixed martial arts and we will be partnering with BJJ / MMA gyms in London.

3. WHERE YOUR MONEY IS GOING

Crew – £8,830 (45%)

Camera, sound, lighting, and the production team who run the set safely and professionally.

Travel + Food – £2,950 (15%)

Cast/crew travel, equipment transport, catering for five shoot days, and parking.

Cast – £2,430 (12%)

Fair pay for our young actors, including rehearsals and shoot days.

Film Stock – £2,500 (13%)

16mm film stock for all shoot days, including processing and scanning.

Art & Props – £1,390 (7%)

Production design, set dressing, props, and creating the world of the school, party, and MMA gym.

Post-Production – £870 (4%)

Editing, original score, and sound mix.

Locations – £690 (3%)

School and MMA gym fees (other locations secured for free).

Insurance – £175 (1%)

Production insurance covering cast, crew, and equipment.

4. MORE ABOUT THE TEAM

Gabrielle Torreborre - Writer/Director

Gabby ran an English theatre company in Berlin from 2017–2020, then started her own videography company during Covid (clients include SXSW, Royal Court Theatre, Roundhouse). Her work has been performed in the UK, Europe and Australia. She was recently nominated as Best Unsigned Director and Best Director to British Young Arrows 25 for 2 x 16mm music videos. Her latest film piece 'Ragni' was created in collaboration with Gaia Banfi and Company 3 and produced by her film production company Garo Studios, co-founded with Coro Benavent. Tussle is a collaboration between Skyeangel Productions and Garo Studios, and will be Garo's first official narrative piece.

Skye Wilson and Angel Jordan - Producers

Meet Skye Wilson and Angel Jordan, the founders behind SkyeAngel Productions! Skye and Angel met in 2022 while working as runners at Working Title Films, where they quickly connected over a shared passion for storytelling and a drive to make their mark in the film industry.

Skye moved on to be Producer’s Assistant on Lena Dunham’s Too Much (Netflix/Working Title) after which she then explored Hollywood style film making working directly under director Roland Emmerich. Skye now works in the development team at Working Title. Angel kicked off her career starting as an office runner after graduating from the London Screen Academy. She has quickly climbed the ranks to become the In-House Production Manager at Working Title at just 22! Their latest short film Headhunter was won Best Action Short at London Independent Film Festival.

Toby Lloyd - Cinematographer

Toby won a BAFTA for cinematography on The Black Cop (2022). He is represented by Independent Talent Group and graduated from the NFTS Cinematography course, and is a BAFTA Connect member. He is also a Cannes Lions YDA Gold Medal winner and has been nominated for Best Cinematography at BSC and the British Short Film Awards for Bandits.

Marta Bobic - Executive Producer

Marta is the Managing Director and Partner at CANADA. Under her leadership CANADA was awarded Production Company of the Year at the Kinsale Shark Awards 2025. She was previously at Wieden+Kennedy and Blink, and has 10+ years of experience in the production company and agency environment. She joined CANADA in 2015 to bring their craft-led style and growing roster of directors to the UK.

Help us bring this film to audiences that need it most!