![web - Toll](https://acmi-website-media-prod.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/media/images/web_-_Toll.original.jpg)
When
Fri 9 Aug 2024
See below for additional related events
To pay for the conversion therapy she believes her gay son needs, a well-intentioned tollbooth operator turns to crime in this crafty and unpredictable drama.
Suellen is a tollbooth attendant in the industrial Brazilian city of Cubatão. Despite her poverty, she considers herself a moral gatekeeper, kicking out her boyfriend Arauto after she learns he’s been hiding stolen goods in her home. She also feels compelled to stop her proudly gay 17-year-old son Tiquinho from facing a lifetime of persecution. Although Suellen lights a ‘virility candle’ for him each dawn, Tiquinho keeps trying on make-up and filming elaborate drag performance videos in his pink bedroom full of rainbow lights. So when Suellen’s co-worker Telma recommends an expensive gay conversion camp led by a foreign priest, she decides to pay for Tiquinho’s salvation by joining Arauto’s gang of thieves.
Director Carolina Markowicz reunites with actor Maeve Jinkings, who also starred in her debut feature Charcoal (MIFF 2023), for this sharp, subtle and frequently surprising character study that also unfolds as a critique of exploitative social institutions. In Toll, Suellen is no simplistic bigot; rather, she’s a well-meaning mother constrained by her circumstances, and she comes to learn the true cost of choosing certain paths.
“This film serves to confirm Markowicz as one of Brazil’s most impressive rising talents, and it’s well worth your time.” – Eye for Film
Explore more events in the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) 2024 program
There are no upcoming related events at this time.
ACMI – the home of festivals
Meet the festivals and film clubs on Melbourne’s cultural calendar that call ACMI home.
![A couple checks out consumes from The Last Emperor in The Story of the Moving Image (image credit: Phoebe Powell) A couple checks out consumes from The Last Emperor in The Story of the Moving Image (image credit: Phoebe Powell)](https://acmi-website-media-prod.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/media/images/Phoebe_Powell_ACMI_Open_Day_16.2e16d0ba.fill-846x476.jpg)
Not an ACMI Member yet?
Experience ACMI in the very best way. Get a range of discounts and invitations to exclusive previews.
![20 per cent off in the ACMI Shop 20 per cent off in the ACMI Shop](https://acmi-website-media-prod.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/media/images/20_percent_off_in_the_ACMI_Shop.2e16d0ba.fill-846x476.jpg)
ACMI Shop
Melbourne's favourite shop dedicated to all things moving image. Every purchase supports your museum of screen culture.