Anna, new Quebec thriller, takes on subject of human trafficking

Quebec filmmaker Charles-Olivier Michaud has a hot film in his hands.

Anna, starring French actress, Anna Mouglalis, tells the story of a photojournalist documenting child prostitution in Thailand when she finds herself a victim of the same abusive treatment as the young women she's trying to photograph.

When the reporter realizes the human trafficking is also happening in Montreal, she realizes she has to tell her own story to expose the crimes.

"Human trafficking is a silent war," Michaudsaid in an interview.

"It's present among us but it's not something we talk about or see on the 6 o'clock news because it touches on taboos, on impulses that reveal the dark side of us."

Michaud wrote the screenplay for Anna after Montreal producer Nicole Robert told him she liked his first film, Snow and Ashes and wanted to work with him.

Snow and Ashes won the Jury Grand Prize at the 2010 Slamdance Film Festival. It also won the Genie award for best cinematography.

He had the idea for a main character who would go from observer to participant in the action but didn't know where to set his story, finally deciding to make it about human trafficking.

"People think it's not happening here in Montreal," he said.

He says he felt vindicated in his choice of subject matter when he was editing the film last spring and reading reports of an RCMP arrests in a Canada-wide prostitution ring.

The Quebec City native left a career in business after a family tragedy to do what he'd always wanted to do: make movies.

Anna got its world premiere at the 2015 Busan International Film Festival in Busan, South Korea where it won the Jury Prize.

Anna screens tonight at the Festival du nouveau cinma. It will be released in Quebec on Oct. 23.