Snakehead (film)

After her jail sentence was commuted and the custody of her only daughter Rosie was lost, Tse travels to New York via human smuggler known as "Snakehead", in hopes of reuniting with her. Coming from Taiwan, Sister Tse pays a smuggler a $50,000 fee for her passage to New York. Upon arrival, she heads to Dai Mah, a brothel owner, who demands her to repay her $57,000. Because she doesn't have such money, she needs to gain favor from the matriarch of the crime family and rise through ranks quickly. Her success, however, does come at a cost. Throughout her stay in America, she will endure harsh mistreatment by men, while working in a brothel. After reimbursing Dai Mah, as well as beating up one of her customers and killing Dai Mah's pimp, she heads to find Rosie, who, as she later learns from Rosie herself, was subsequently adopted by a New York couple.

The film was written and directed by Evan Jackson Leong. The story is loosely inspired by that of Sister Ping, a human smuggler who ran an operation between Hong Kong and New York City from 1984 to 2000.^[2]

Snakehead premiered at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival^[1] and subsequently was screened at the 20th New York Asian Film Festival.^[3] On June 16, 2021, the film's rights were acquired by Samuel Goldwyn Films and Roadside Attractions to release the film in North America.^[4] Initially, the date for the U.S. release was set for October 10, 2021,^[5] but it was quickly changed to October 29.^[6] In Australia, the film was released under Odin's Eye Entertainment umbrella.^[5]