Why did you make this film?

Back in 2013 Becky & I became involved with an anti-trafficking organisation called IJM(UK) and we ended up creating ‘The It’s Not Fair’ - a theatre production highlighting the issue of modern-day slavery. This has toured nationally and it has been brilliant to be able to connect people with both IJM(UK) and ‘Stop the Traffik’. It’s a something that’s really stirred our hearts and so it seemed natural to make it the subject of our next film project.Was it a hard subject to deal with? I think all the time that we were making the film we were aware that our ‘fiction’ was very much an everyday reality for some people. The challenge was to tell a story that was authentic, but without being sensationalised; that was authentic and honest, but without resorting to shock tactics. We’re really grateful to the support of some of the different anti-trafficking organisations here in Manchester for their help and advice throughout the process.

What do you hope to achieve from this project?

We want to raise awareness of the situation. We want people to be informed, to understand what’s going on – the sheer scale of the problem. I guess most of all we would want people to feel outraged, inspired and challenged to do something about it; to get involved and help to make a difference.

I guess, ultimately, we’d love audiences to connect with some of the anti-trafficking organisations out there and support the amazing work they’re doing to rescue people.

Why make a drama rather than a documentary?

Story is such a powerful medium and connects sometimes in a way that can be deeper than with purely factual information. People connect with people. We wanted the audience to feel as though they get to know Alicija – see her with her friends and family, understand what she wants from life, what makes her tick – and I think than when something terrible happens to a person you know it registers on an all-together different level.In some ways the scale of human trafficking can be too big (35.8 million) to get your head around - when you think of the sheer numbers involved. But we can connect with one human being...

I guess we also wanted to create an immediacy to the situation; that trafficking isn’t just something that happens to ‘other people’ ‘elsewhere’. It can happen anywhere... to anyone...