'Relay' Puts Riz Ahmed & Lily James in a Thrilling Race

The Telecommunications Relay Service (commonly referred to as TRS) is likely unfamiliar to those who do not have someone in their life who is deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, or has speech disabilities. The American Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has provided this program to enable individuals with disabilities to communicate via landline telephones since the early 1970s. Since the passage of the ADA in 1990, it has been available at no cost. The "relay device" is a Teletypewriter (known as a TTY), which allows the disabled party to receive written responses and respond by typing, which is then "relayed" by a communications assistant (CA) to the other party.

That system is at the heart of the new film Relay, a corporate thriller which imagines a scenario where whistleblowers call into the TRS to contact those who provide help and protection. The "fixers" (or whatever you want to call them) keep their identities completely hidden by communicating only via TTY machines, using CAs as their voices. They can do this as the FCC rules state that CAs must be unobtrusive, "relay the conversation exactly as it is received," and (most importantly) all relay calls must be confidential and protected.

Relay initially debuted in September 2024 at the Toronto International Film Festival as one of the many hopefuls in need of distribution and marketing for an awards push. However, it wasn't until mid-November that Bleeker Street announced it would acquire the film and was planning a 2025 release. The first look images and trailer are now finally out, with the film heading for an August debut.

Here's the film's synopsis:

Ash is an off-the-grid fixer who brokers deals between whistleblowers and corrupt corporations through a message relay service that maintains anonymity. Ash assists individuals who, fearful for their lives, walk back their decision to expose their high-powered employers, facilitating the return of stolen documents and information in exchange for client safety. He keeps his identity a secret through meticulous planning and always follows an exacting set of rules. 

But when a message arrives one day from a potential client — a scientist from a biotech company armed with claims of an unlawful cover-up regarding toxic chemicals — Ash becomes ensnared in a game of cat and mouse with a corporate intimidator. Needing his protection just to stay alive, the rules quickly start to change.

Riz Ahmed (The Night Of) stars as Ash, with Lily James (Downton Abbey) as whistleblower Sarah Grant and Australian actor Sam Worthington (Under the Banner of Heaven) as the corporate intimidator. The rest of the film's cast includes Americans Willa Fitzgerald (Little Women) and Matthew Maher (Our Flag Means Death) and Canadian legend Victor Garber (Alias).

Written by rising scribe Justin Piasecki and directed by David Mackenzie (Outlaw King), Relay is also executive produced by Mackenzie alongside Black Bear, which entirely financed the project and produced alongside Thunder Road Pictures and Sigma Films. 

Producers include Basil Iwanyk for Thunder Road, Gillian Berrie for Sigma, and Teddy Schwarzman for Black Bear. Executive producers are Black Bear’s Michael Heimler and John Friedberg, and Thunder Road’s Erica Lee and Charlie Morrison.

Relay will arrive in theaters globally in August 2025. It's unclear yet whether it's part of a dump by Bleeker to rid itself of a film that won't make the awards longlist or the beachhead of films aiming to win critical praise. We'll know the answer when the actual release date arrives; the later in August it debuts, the better its chances are to be part of the awards conversation.