Redemption Illinois is a modern-day horror film that exposes the visceral terror of intimate abuse through the eyes of women who are unjustly incarcerated for defending themselves against their domestic attacker. The film is meant to draw in the viewer to a greater understanding of these issues as they are experiencing an engaging and beautifully made genre film.
We intend to release a “behind the scenes” piece at the same time that names these women who participate with their stories and encourages the viewer to take the step toward advocacy.
Synopsis:
Daniel finding himself jobless, becomes nearly abusive at home with his wife and infant daughter and applies for a job at a nearby women’s prison as a guard. At the interview, the prison is overrun as the women inside riot, taking control of the facility and holding Daniel and a few other men, putting them on trial to see if they should be released.
Daniel and the others are put through the wringer as the women tell their own stories about how they went to jail for the sole crime of defending themselves from abuse. The cellblock catches fire and Daniel begs to be released, trying to save other women as well, but ultimately failing.
He returns home to find that he’s only been gone an hour or so, but to him it was months of arduous torture from which his wife works to nurture him back. He is abjectly apologetic to her as they discover the prison has been closed for 20 years, and he had been engaging with the women’s ghosts. Five years later he returns to the prison to plant a flower in gratitude, when his daughter points out hundreds of other men also planting flowers.
Trailer 1
Trailer 2
We want to see the stories of the women at the Logan Correctional Institute, stories where they were forced to stop abuse and act in self defense, told to a widespread, popular media audience.
And we believe a feature film will reach more people, more effectively, than a documentary.
Genre: Horror, Drama
Format: Feature Film
Shot on: Red Camera, Sony
Directed by: Paul Christopher
Written by: Paul Christopher Greene Jim Marcus & Paul Christopher Greene
Look and feel: it should feel ominous and high contrast but very real and beautifully cinematic. When effects are used, it’s important that they happen within the framework of a real scene
Tagline: The Hunt for Redemption Starts here.
LogLine: A newly hired guard in a women’s prison has to endure a test that will change his life forever.