A crime comedy · feature film in preproduction

HOT POT

Written & directed by A. L. Lee

A newly divorced Korean grandma inadvertently becomes a pot dealer to Korean seniors in Flushing, Queens. With the cops closing in, can she and her elderly clientele — wielding umbrellas and donuts — hatch the perfect plan to save themselves and their illegal pot?

Watch the director Read the story The short film that started it all

The story, in scenes

How a grandma becomes a kingpin

The perfect wife takes a hard left turn

Mi-young Han, 65, spent 45 years trying to be the perfect Korean daughter-in-law. Suddenly divorced, she’s hiding from her high-society frenemies in Flushing, Queens — the story begins in 2015, before weed is legal in New York State.

A grandson in a cast

When her grandson David, a Harvard student, breaks his leg while his parents are out of the country, Mi-young steps in to take care of him.

Not even the japchae works

David’s Oxycontin makes him throw up everything — even her special japchae. Weed is still illegal, so Mi-young finds herself climbing into a rundown van to buy pot for him, at a good discount, of course!

One good deed…

Mi-young hears about a Korean elder, affectionately nicknamed Gas Station Nam, who is in chemotherapy and in desperate need of pot. She offers her the five joints that her grandson stashed in her apartment.

…never goes unpunished

Word travels fast in Flushing. Soon the whole congregation of Korean seniors has just one prayer: they all want Mi-young to get them pot.

Falling for the wrong man

Becoming the neighborhood drug dealer was NEVER, EVER part of Mi‑young’s new life plan. How is she going to explain this to D. D. Kim — an ex-DEA agent and the first man to make her heart race in decades?

The characters

A very unusual crew

Grandmas, gossips, gas-station owners and one retired narc. Everyone in Flushing has a stake in Mi-young’s little operation.

The reluctant dealer

Mi-young Han

Obedient, dutiful and newly divorced. Once a former rising star of Korean traditional fan dance but now with the cops hot on her tail, how is she going to save herself and her illegal weed?

The neighbor

Sunny Park

ABK (American-born Korean) in her 30's with blue hair, piercings, and tattoos. Tries her best never to be too obedient or dutiful. Works at the Senior Center and knows everybody. Could she be the answer to Mi-young’s dilemma?

The watcher

Yongok Park

Sunny’s grandma. Survivor of WW II and the Korean War. Watches the world through binoculars. How else would she know everything about everyone!

The love interest

D. D. Kim

A retired DEA agent and the most inconveniently perfect man in Flushing. He has no idea what Mi-young has been up to…yet.

The first client

Gas Station Nam

A Korean elder facing her final days who decides it’s never too late to be a little naughty.

The busybodies

In-sook & Jung-sook

The neighborhood’s nosiest duo. Turns out being nosy pays — especially when there’s a booming underground business to gossip about.

Director’s vision

Hot pots, capers, umbrellas & donuts

At its heart, Hot Pot is a coming-of-age story for a once dutiful woman in her sixties — a crime comedy about the life that begins after everything you were told to want falls apart.

Camera & movement

Shot in anamorphic 2.35 widescreen, using color and framing to put Mi-young’s emotional life at the center of every frame.

A color journey

We open in cold, lonely grey — then warm into rich, lucky reds as Mi-young finds her people.

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Sound

A soundtrack built on traditional Korean folk instruments — with plenty of K-pop and K-hip-hop when the caper kicks in.

Setting

The real, vibrant Korean community of Flushing, Queens — its churches, senior centers, and apartment kitchens.

The Hot Pot team

Who’s making it

Writer / Director

A. L. Lee

An NYC-based filmmaker with an MFA in screenwriting from Columbia University’s Film Division. Her short “Halmoni’s Pot (Grandma's Pot)” (2023) has won three “Audience Choice” awards, premiered at Palm Springs Int’l ShortFest and screened at Hamptons Int’l FF, Asian American Int’l FF, San Diego Int’l FF, and DisOrient Asian American FF. Her films have won multiple Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay awards. The Hot Pot feature script was a Blue Cat semi-finalist and was selected for the FS2P Lab 2024 and Athena FF Writers Lab 2024. See more of her films at Black Cat Circus.

Producer

Caroline Onikute

An award-winning, NYU-trained producer with 25 years spanning long-form documentary, episodic television, commercials and music video. Her credits include “1 Angry Black Man”, Showtime’s “Flatbush Misdemeanors,”, and Netflix’s “Sam Jay: 3 in the Morning”. She is Executive Producer and Principal at Align Pictures.

Director of Photography

Diego Jiménez

A highly sought-after directory of photography across Central and Latin America. Won Best Cinematography at Sundance for “All Your Dead Ones” (dir. Carlos Moreno).

Editor

Dennis Lutz

Berlin-based editor and Filmakademie graduate. Editor on “Swift” (Kate Winslet, Willem Dafoe) and A. L. Lee’s films “the good boy”, “Artemis & the Astronaut”, “Halmoni's Pot”.