A haunting new thriller, The Sleepless Girl dives into dreams, loss, and love as reality and illusion dangerously collide.
Taiwanese producer Patrick Mao Huang of Flash Forward Entertainment (known for Tiger Stripes) is presenting the psychological thriller The Sleepless Girl at the Tokyo Gap-Financing Market, seeking international partners to help complete the ambitious film.
Directed by François Chang, the film explores the fragile boundary between dreams and reality. The story follows Fan, a Taiwanese man who wakes up with no memory except an urge to find a Japanese girl named Hitomi.
When he does, surreal events unfold—until Fan discovers a shocking truth: he exists only inside Hitomi’s dream. In the real world, Fan was once her favorite singer who died by suicide after being replaced by an AI-generated idol.
Now, Hitomi lies in a coma, refusing to wake up in a world where he no longer exists.
As Hitomi learns the truth, her sorrow turns into destructive power, transforming her into a monster. Fan must help her awaken before both are lost in the nightmare forever.
Chang, who is adapting the film from his 2017 short of the same name, says the story reflects the loneliness of a generation trapped between social media and reality. The movie also explores memory, guilt, and emotional connection with those we’ve lost. “I wanted to make the invisible pain visible,” Chang explains.
The project has already gained momentum at major development platforms, including Frontières at Fantasia Film Festival, Sundance Asia Pitching Forum, and TAICCA x AFiS Development Lab. Chang also took part in Talents Tokyo last year. Producer Huang says these milestones have helped expand the story’s world-building while keeping its emotional heart intact.
Currently, about 50% of the film’s budget has been secured from Taiwan. The production team aims to finish financing by mid-2026, start shooting in Japan later that year, and premiere at a major international film festival in late 2027.
At Tokyo, Huang is looking to connect with Japanese producers, distributors, and sales agents who value visually ambitious yet emotionally grounded genre films.
Beyond the movie, The Sleepless Girl is being developed as a potential multimedia franchise, with opportunities for sequels, remakes, and even a video game adaptation.
Chang is also working on his next project, Millennium Town—a mystery sci-fi series about a town stuck in 1999 after the Y2K bug.
Both works share themes of time, memory, and identity, continuing Chang’s exploration of how people search for meaning in an increasingly surreal world.
