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ILLICIT
Production Country (s) USA / Korea Production Company (s) -
Genre Psychological Thriller Production Spec 4K / Color / 100min
Production Stage
(or Project Status)		 Late Script development / Early Financing Expected Date of Completion Q3 2021
Total Budget
(Negative Cost)		 930,000 USD Confirmed Financing 100,000USD
(Equity investor)
Fellow Name KANG Minji
Director KANG Minji Email of Director minjikang@icloud.com
Profile of the Director Kang Minji is a South Korean writer/director. She received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and holds her MFA in Film Directing from Columbia University, graduating with Faculty Honor placement. She was the recipient of the SAIC Enrichment Scholarship and the Columbia TOMS Scholarship. Kang's MFA thesis short film, The Loyalist, screened internationally and received numerous recognitions. She is a 2015 Reykjavik Talent Lab fellow, 2018 BIFAN Fantastic Film School fellow, 2018 Let’s CEE (Central Eastern European) Talent Academy fellow, and a current fellow of 2019 International Business Academy at Busan Asian Film School. She is represented by Silent R Management.
Producer (s) Luke SPEARS Email of Producer (s) luke.spears@gmail.com
Profile of the Producer (s) Luke Spears is an independent producer originally from New York City. A graduate of Columbia University's Film MFA program, he has made over a dozen short films which have played at festivals worldwide, including the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. His first feature film, Child Eater, premiered at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival and screened at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival and Stockholm International Flim Festival among others in 2016. It was released commercially in North America in March 2017 by MVD Entertainment.
Logline A blind teenager with a gift for music breaks the strict rules laid out for her by her domineering older siblings to befriend the jazz musician who has moved in next door, with tragic consequences.
Synopsis MONA (14), a free-spirited blind teenage girl who lives with her controlling older siblings, dreams of a life beyond her limitations and the possibility to discover what's forbidden. With the arrival of a mysterious neighbor, JK (33), a sliver of hope is given to Mona. JK has come to a new neighborhood, following the death of his sister. Perhaps the new environment will help him overcome the trauma. JK soon finds himself drawn to Mona, who lives across from him. As JK's attachment and friendship with her grows, he learns about the dark secrets harbored by her family, including the incestuous relationship of her domineering older siblings ANTON (26), an LAPD officer, and SCARLET (28), and a murder he suspects occurred in their past. As Mona struggles to free herself from the psychological prison her brother and sister have created, JK vows to be her savior and maps out a plan to rescue her.
However, when Anton and Scarlet discover JK and Mona’s friendship, they’ll stop at nothing to bring Mona back into the fold and eliminate JK as a threat to their family. Ultimately, Mona and JK’s great odyssey for freedom eventually leads to catastrophe. Mona’s innocence is destroyed, and she takes Anton’s life as she continues to hope against hope for ultimate liberation.