DETKA (SHORT)
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In a lonely, nearly empty loft, two broken souls seek comfort and safety with each other. Natasha, forced into the sex trade when she was a teenager, clings to what shreds of hope she can, seeking protection from the husband who paid for her. Her companion is Biss, a boxer past his prime, hardened by knocks in and out of the ring. This intense but tender love story focuses on hope that defies the odds; even though their lives hang in the balance, their hearts command them to risk it all on a chance for happiness.
The wife of a sadistic Russian mob boss finds hope in her hardship with another lost soul, as together they risk everything for a chance at a new life.
In Russia, around the turn of the millennium, ANATOLY nervously takes his 14 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER NATASHA to a café. She has no idea he’s about to sell her out of desperation to the Mafioso SERGEI, who has no intention of keeping his promise to take good care of her. He won’t even let Anatoly say goodbye to her.
In present day Brooklyn, BISS, an ex-boxer past his prime prepares a romantic dinner even as he tries to exorcise the memory of his trainer EDDIE. His guest doesn’t show, and Biss falls asleep alone. He is woken up by the midnight arrival of NATASHA, now 26 and still under Sergei’s thumb. Biss is her escape, the one bright spot in her life, just as she is for him. Their meeting is both playful and passionate, but tonight Biss’s teasing hits too close to home and she starts to break down.
Biss realizes how vulnerable she truly is for the first time, but when she starts probing into his past, she too finds bigger demons than she expected, and soon they are both lashing out at each other. She locks herself in the bathroom, thinking she’s lost the one person who treats her tenderly. But instead Biss confesses his love for her, and she folds herself in his arms, even ignoring a call from Sergei.
Later, in bed together, they begin to open up. Biss is haunted by guilt at his trainer Eddie’s death. Eddie, he tells her, was the only person who ever believed in him, the person that gave him hope in life, but he was unable to save Eddie from his drug addiction and the inevitable overdose soon followed. Natasha reveals what she knows of her past. But bad as it is, she only knows part of it. After her father sold her, Sergei prostituted her all over Europe, and lied to her father about where she was, before finally bringing her to Brighton Beach.
Now that he knows her past, Natasha is terrified that Biss won’t want to see her again, but instead he suggests an escape. With nothing left to lose, he makes immediate plans to go to Mexico, living life on the run, but together. They throw some clothes in a bag, and rush out. As Biss loads up the cab, Natasha, ignoring another call from Sergei, runs into an older man, who she is shocked to recognize as her father. She neither knows nor cares how he found her, but immediately embraces him. What she doesn’t know is that eventually Sergei did tell Anatoly that she was a prostitute, only leaving out his own responsibility for it. Their reunion is far from a happy one, and even Biss can’t protect her from this confrontation. For some, there are no second chances.
Contact David Waknine to obtain a copy of the script.
It may be a “short” but we have some BIG plans for this version of DETKA…
- Premiere in the Short Film Competition at Sundance Film Festival.
- Receive Oscar consideration for Best Short Film.
- Attract investment for Detka the Feature.
- Screen at a list of film festivals chosen specifically for Detka.
- Distribute and broadcast internationally on channels that feature short films.
Sell a drug once but sell a person forever…
Human trafficking has become the 3rd largest criminal industry in our world and its on the rise toward #1. A multi-billion dollar business, it racks more profit annually then Google, Starbucks and Nike combined!
But you can’t fight hate with more hate! DETKA takes a unique approach by telling its story through the lens of hope and love.
DETKA bore its roots from a personal experience that writer David Waknine encountered on a trip to Poland years back. After a long day of shooting he was at a bar with fellow cast members when a confrontation broke out between a girl and what appeared to be her abusive boyfriend. The argument turned ugly when the man laid a definitive slap across her face. As David leapt forward to intervene he found himself restrained by a friend who cautioned “Don’t. Things are different here.” He soon realized that this woman was considered “property” and not in fact an equal. This provided the impulse for him to write DETKA (short film version) huddled on the floor outside of the restroom that plane ride home.
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