''Trade of Innocents'' is a 2012 American made thriller

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, i ...

written and directed by Christopher Bessette and starring

Dermot Mulroney Dermot Mulroney (born October 31, 1963) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in romantic comedy, western, and drama films. Appearing on screen since 1986, he is known for his work in various films such as '' Young Guns'' (1988), '' Stay ...

Mira Sorvino Mira Katherine Sorvino (; born September 28, 1967) is an American actress. She won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Woody Allen's ''Mighty Aphrodite'' (1995). She also starred in the films ...

John Billingsley John Billingsley (, born May 20, 1960) is an American actor best known for his role as Doctor Phlox on the television series ''Star Trek: Enterprise''. Early life and education Billingsley was born in Media, Pennsylvania, and subsequently live ...

and Trieu Tran. The film was shot on location in

Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated population ...

. It will look to bring awareness and involvement to work against human trafficking.

Plot

In the back streets of a

tourist town A honeypot site is a location attracting throngs of tourists who, due to their numbers, place pressure on the environment and local people. Honeypots are often used by cities or countries to manage their tourism industry. The use of honeypots c ...

in present-day

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

, we find a filthy cinder block room; a bed with soiled sheets; a little girl waits for the next man to use her. Alex, a human trafficking investigator plays the role of her next customer as he negotiates with the pimp for the use of the child. Claire, Alex's wife, is caught up in the flow of her new life in Southeast Asia and her role as a volunteer in an aftercare shelter for rescued girls. She, and Alex both still are dealing with their grief of losing a child years earlier. As both of them struggle in their own way to overcome the pain of their past and realities of child exploitation where they now live and work, they find themselves being pulled together into the lives of local neighborhood girls, whose freedom and dignity are threatened.

Cast

as Alex Becker *

as Claire Becker *

as Malcolm Eddery * Trieu Tran as Duke * Rena Yamada as little girl in the start

Production

Development

The inspiration of ''Trade of Innocents'' came from a combination of the experience of the director (Christopher Bessette) and his trip to Phnom Penh, and the producers Bill and Laurie Bolthouse experience on their trip Phnom Penh. Christopher Bessette and Bill and Laurie later came together to make the film.

has a longtime interest in supporting the cause of ending human trafficking. When asked about being in Trade of Innocents she said that "I felt it could be a powerful combination of my activist efforts and my artistic ventures."

Release

In January 2011, Monterey Media acquired the United States and Canada distribution rights for the film from Bicycle Peddler LLC.

Festivals

''Trade of Innocents'' was selected to screen at the following film festivals: *2012 Breckenridge Festival of Film *2012 Toronto Cornerstone Film Festival

Theatrical release

The film will begin its theatrical released in on October 5 at the Quad Cinema in New York.

Critical reception

The film received a positive reaction from ''

Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American Broadcast syndication, first-run syndicated news broadcasting news magazine, newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Para ...

'' calling it a "powerful and important new film". Media Mike's also called the film "a rare gem that will probably not be seen by many but it really deserves mainstream shot." On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has a score of 0% based on 7 critic reviews. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has an average weighted score of 29 out of 100 based on 6 critic reviews, indicating "Generally Unfavorable Reviews."

Awards

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Trade Of Innocents 2012 films Films about prostitution in Thailand Films about human trafficking Works about sex trafficking American independent films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films