Film-maker Howard Ford is releasing his tenth feature film, a human trafficking female revenge story called Escape.
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00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers, and lovely
00:05to speak to Howard Ford, who lives just near Eastbourne, and momentous for you, you've
00:10got your tenth film coming out, and it's called Escape, and it's a film with something really
00:17serious behind it, saying serious things, isn't it?
00:20It really is. Escape is ultimately a human trafficking revenge story. So there are ten
00:27ladies who are kidnapped for the purposes of trafficking, they're going to be sold
00:31by a horrific gang, and it is now down to these young women to use all their inner and
00:37outer strengths to escape the clutches of these men, and save their lives and the lives
00:42of their friends.
00:43So there's a warning element about it, isn't there?
00:47There is. I mean, here's the thing, Escape, look, it's not a documentary, it is a piece
00:50of fiction, but I'm aware of some of the horrific things going on in the world, and we're discovering
00:56them all the time, you know, real-life stories of things happening, and I spoke to some of
01:01my female friends, and I realised that, as shocking as it seemed, you know, speaking
01:06to about four ladies, at least three of them had stories of a male giving them, at the
01:14very least, some unwanted attention. If not, the stories were actually going much further
01:19than that, and it was kind of horrific, really. So I realised that an incredible amount of
01:23people have been affected by things, hopefully not as extreme as what goes on in Escape,
01:29but you know, as my 10th feature film, I thought, right, I'm going to do something kind of outrageous,
01:35kind of provocative, but also the type of film that maybe you're not going to be allowed
01:38to make anymore. I just thought, I'm going to do it, and I'm going to have these women
01:42rising up and fighting back and taking down these men.
01:44Absolutely, and I think you said a key word just now, revenge. The point is that the women
01:49do fight back.
01:50They do fight back. No, it's not about a man coming to save, you know, we've seen a lot
01:54of these films, and a man comes to save the women. No, these women are on their own. They
02:00are cut off, they are isolated in the desert, as it turns out, you know, held in this underground
02:05kind of prison in the desert, and they're about to be sold off by these horrific bad
02:10guys, the head of which is played by Sean Cronin, who was in one of the Mission Impossible
02:16movies, and yeah, great guy, great face. And so basically, I have done it larger than
02:23life. So the criminal gang, the guys, you know, there's, you know, scarred faces, their
02:27eye patches, you know, I mean, it is like an exaggerated version of life. The girls
02:31are very beautiful. The resort they're taken from is very beautiful. So the movie in itself
02:36is like going on a holiday just with, then the kidnap starts.
02:40Fantastic. Well, it sounds a really powerful piece, and it's going to be available on streaming
02:45platforms. It's called Escape. Congratulations on film number 10, Howard. Lovely to see you.
02:50Thank you very much, Phil. Thank you to all who watch Escape.