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A small newspaper article proved to be the spark that set film director Dee McLachlan on course to make The Jammed - a socially relevant crime thriller hailed as one of Australia's best.
The Melbourne-based writer-director had been horrified by a mostly ignored news item about a businessman in her state who had held 40 Thai girls captive to work as prostitutes in suburbia - but was only prosecuted when he illegally felled a tree that enabled one girl to escape from a window.
"He made millions off them and had just got off with a slap on the wrist, really, while all the girls had been deported before they could testify. "I thought it was so unbelievable - first because the story got so little attention, and secondly because it was in a hotel in a very fancy suburb."
Basing her story on court transcripts, McLachlan's harrowing story revolves around a naive office worker (Veronika Sywak) reluctantly drawn into helping a Chinese woman (Amanda Ma) search for her missing daughter who has been forced into prostitution and debt bondage. "I'd always wanted to make a hard-hitting film," says McLachlan.
Her one-year "battle" to get financing for the film has now been rewarded with The Jammed now a steady earner on the art-house circuit in Australia. The movie is now heading overseas for limited screenings (it hits New Zealand cinemas on June 19).
South African-born McLachlan, 54, has been making films for 30 years. Most have been under her previous incarnation as Duncan McLachlan; she underwent a sex change after coming to Australia from America in 1999. Having bounced around the world, McLachlan says it was more her transient lifestyle than her change of gender that sharpened her focus on injustice.
"I've spent a lot of my life in an immigration mentality where you feel kind of disadvantaged and displaced. I think that helps a lot, as the movie is about these girls in limbo. They don't belong and they are going to be deported if they get caught."
It's estimated that at least 1000 sex workers are brought into Australia each year. The industry, where murder, death threats and rape are commonplace, is reportedly worth A$150 million (NZ$186 million) a year to criminals. McLachlan says she's happy that groups such as World Vision, Salvation Army and the Soroptomists are using her film as an instrument for social change.
"That's great," she says. After spending so long on such harrowing material she's now working on a lighter project, though probably just as controversial a mockumentary about terrorism.
* The Jammed is in limited release in cinemas from June 19; Rialto, Newmarket, Auckland, Paramount Cinema Wellington, and Rialto Christchurch and Dunedin.
