The dark sexual desires of a shapeshifting virtual gaming engineer spiral out of control when she shares them with an equally perverse son of a telecoms tycoon. The game world bleeds into reality, thrusting her into a feverish underworld where she’s forced to embody the vengeful antihero she’s created.
Thick fog seeps into New York’s Chinatown, veiling Kit Liang (36), who slips between many worlds. By night, she’s “Amy from America,” a karaoke escort seducing powerful businessmen. By day, she tends her aging father, Choi (72), and struggles to keep their bakery alive amid debt and real estate threats. Kit calms Choi’s bitterness with slow dances to Cantopop ballads from a gentler Hong Kong.
One night, Kit finds a fleshy, pulsating alien fragment in a Henry Street alley. Obsessed, she 3D scans it into NUWORLD—a virtual Chinatown built from memory. There, as CLIT_gLITCH, she co-authors anarchic disruptions alongside a husky-voiced partner, MOTHER_COMRADE. Attempts to meet in person always fail.
Their target: Willem Al-Hasan (28), telecom heir and lead investor in JULIA—an OS set to monopolize virtual communication. CLIT_gLITCH and MOTHER_COMRADE plan to fracture it—another utopia, another hallucination. CLIT_gLITCH’s mission: make contact. Willem’s electric presence frightens and excites her. Their explosive night reveals shared kinks—BDSM, voyeurism, cyber-simulation. Willem aims to reengineer JULIA toward freedom, defying his father’s control. In NUWORLD, the fragment hits 16%, fueling follower fervor.
Kit fights a mysterious illness causing chronic pain. She turns to Mercedes (22), a pill dealer and fair-weather lover. During a drug run, they crash a startup party—Kit sees Willem, who ignores her. Kit overdoses on Mercedes’ pills.
On the way home, Kit is dragged into a building and assaulted. She fights back, nearly killing her attacker—only to find the victim isn’t her but a lookalike. NUWORLD’s board erupts. Kit rips off her VR headset: she’s alone. Memory fractures.
Flashback: Kit and Willem’s first night. She shares a rape-revenge fantasy. Safeword: GRAPEFRUIT.
Under Manhattan Bridge, a missing Chinatown woman’s body is found. At a protest, Kit senses Willem following her. She lures him home and tries to kill him. He cries:
g r a p e f r u i t.
Kit freezes, possessed, reciting a forgiveness code. Willem, stunned, vows to overwrite JULIA with CLIT_gLITCH’s vision. Kit pulls him into a slow dance—like with her father during his rages. The fragment finishes uploading. MOTHER_COMRADE’s voice returns, flight delayed again.
2025 TFL Story Lab Finalist
Production Designers - Andujar Twins
