At current estimation, 3.000 adolescent slaves tend to cannabis farms across the United Kingdom, coaxed and trafficked from Vietnam in the hope of providing for their families. Exploited for profit, their produce accounts for over 95% of the cannabis market. This money is exchanged and laundered through legitimate fronts, including the British education system.
It is this clash of contrasting worlds that drew me to this subject (supply/demand, East/West, rich/poor, free/enslaved) as well as the precarious dilemma of all involved. Bao and
Tien are caught between feeding their family or fleeing to freedom, whilst unable to turn to the authorities for fear of incarceration or deportation.
With this modern update of the runaway slave story, I intend to create a visceral film that delves into the fraught realities behind sensationalist and dehumanising headlines. Employing an objective and naturalistic aesthetic, I hope to compassionately portray this morally complex system.