CANAL STREET is a modern-day thriller telling the story of a teen, Kholi Styles, trying to get by in an unwelcoming new world. After the mysterious death of a classmate, all eyes fall on Kholi, the new kid at his high school. It’s up to his father, Jackie Styles, an up-and-coming lawyer from the slums of Chicago, to defend his son in court and battle an outraged public before time runs out. Jackie fights to keep his faith and prove his son is not the monster the world has made him out to be.
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
CANAL STREET was shot in an 21 days in February of 2017. The entire film was shot in the state of Illinois in Chicago, Evanston and Des Plaines.
CANAL STREET Screenplay
The screenplay for CANAL STREET was written by Rhyan LaMarr and Jon Knitter with additional writing by Adam Key. LaMarr and Knitter wrote the first draft in 2005 while at Columbia College Chicago and developed the script together over the next 13 years. LaMarr remembers, “I would get on the red line and take it from the Southside of Chicago all the way to end of the line on the Northside and just people watch and dream up some of the diverse characters we birthed in ‘Canal Street’. Chicago, to me, was one of those cities that had caught a bad rap and I wanted to shine a different light on it through politics and grit. Me and Jon started writing about our different experiences and that is really how the script began to take form.”
CANAL STREET Cast
The cast was assembled by Karge & Ross Casting, based in both Chicago and Los Angeles. Red Guerrilla Entertainment (RGE) asked for a leading actor ensemble cast and Karge & Ross delivered a diverse ensemble cast beyond RGE’S expectations. Some of the best actors in Chicago were essential to Canal Street: Katie Chang, Nora Dunn, LaRoyce Hawkins, Dan Waller, Lyric Ross, Shay Aljadeff, Alana Arenas, Jon Seda to name a few.
