Photo: Courtesy of Urbanworld Film Festival, L to R: Christian Monzon and Erica Ash

An unlikely vigilante duo team up to track the abduction of a 15-year girl destined for human trafficking from a seemingly safe suburb of Los Angeles, California. This is the premise behind new film, Skin in the Game. First-time director, Adisa, tackles this subject of human trafficking and the lure traffickers use to find their victims. Leading actress, Lena (Erica Ash), a former prostitute-turned advocate for young women that have fallen into the sex trade has her hands full providing a safe house for girls looking to start anew and break free from the clutches of their pimps.

Photo: Courtesy of Urbanworld Film Festival, L to R: Elisabeth Harnois and Erica Ash

Lena, played by Erica Ash (Survivor’s Remorse, Uncle Drew), is stoic and resilient. Conflicted with her own past trauma doesn’t deter her from helping others and convincing them there is a way out. When a former high school classmate, Sharon, (Elisabeth Harnois) contacts Lena in a desperate attempt to find her missing daughter Dani (Sammi Hanratty), Lena resists, as the two women are estranged and have a rocky past. We don’t know exactly what transpired between these two women and as the viewer you want to know their history– to understand their motivation to join forces and risk their lives. Skin in the Game’s plot is reminiscent of the Liam Neeson Taken trilogy, minus the CIA training, but with captivating female characters with their own set of survivor skills.

Photo: Courtesy of Urbanworld Film Festival, Sammi Hanratty

Written by Adisa and Steven Palmer Peterson, produced by Oscar-nominated producer, Howard Barish, and founder of Kandoo Films, Skin in the Game explores the dark underworld of human trafficking. The threat it poses – to not just poverty-stricken and drug-addicted individuals with little resources– but also to young, misguided vulnerable girls in American neighborhoods. It’s no longer an international problem – it’s become a domestic problem. Human trafficking is a modern form of slavery with illegal smuggling and trading of people into forced labor and sexual exploitation. The human trafficking business is currently estimated at 150 billion up from $44 billion in 2005, according to The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes’ 2016 Global Report.

Urbanworld Film Festival recently Selected Skin in the Game for their narrative features’ category. To learn more about this suspenseful indie thriller, its’ female-led cast, and their upcoming national release date, click here.