ROADSIDE ATTRACTION
DIRECTED BY CATHERINE FORDHAM

Recipient of the first "The Future of Film is Female" Fund

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The Future of Film is Female fund will support development on Catherine Fordham’s next film, WILD CRY HA, both the short (ROADSIDE ATTRACTION) and the feature. She will be using the funds to take a research trip to New Mexico to location scout, get a feel for the local vibes, talk to survivors, and volunteer with an organization that works with women in the sex trade.

WILD CRY HA is a vigilante thriller feature film, set in New Mexico and Mexico, currently in development. ROADSIDE ATTRACTION is a short film — an adapted sequence from WILD CRY HA — currently seeking funding, anticipating a summer 2018 shoot. Both films use the packaging of a vigilante thriller to address the very real world issue of sex trafficking, head on. 

ABOUT THE FILMS

WILD CRY HA:
A woman in a blonde wig shoots a bus driver in Mexico in a seemingly random act. Kaya, a mysterious young woman, arrives at a seedy strip club in New Mexico. But she's not there to dance; she's hunting. When a co-worker, JEM, catches her breaking into the boss’s office, Kaya gives her a glimpse of the “business behind the business” and the two form a fast alliance. Hounded by fitful dreams of a violent past, Kaya’s motives and connection to the woman in the wig come into focus. Careening through back roads, truck stops, and seedy motel rooms, Kaya frantically chases a dark trail of clues in search of her sister LUNA. As the inescapable truth of her sister's fate comes to light, Kaya rages forward, seeking justice on her own terms. Deep intergenerational wounds fuel a wild cry filled with pain, fury and the fight to live.

ROADSIDE ATTRACTION:
Kaya, a furious young woman, searches for her teenage sister Luna, who she believes is being trafficked by a truck driver named Buck. Kaya catches a break when she finds young Eva, a pre-teen being trafficked by Buck’s crew. That night, Kaya takes Eva’s place in a seedy motel room and beats up a slew of customers before awaiting the arrival of Buck’s money handler. When the pimp finally shows up, Kaya mistakenly kills him before she can extract Buck’s location. Angry and frustrated, Kaya steals the pimp’s pick up truck and takes off to continue her search, now with a temporary co-pilot, Eva. 

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Catherine Fordham is a New York-based writer, director and producer. Her short films, Trapped Girl and Consommé have screened at festivals in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Tel Aviv and have been featured in the Huffington Post & The Hollywood Reporter. Consommé was licensed by AMC’s Horror site, Shudder, and toured theaters nationally with Nitehawk Shorts Festival Selects and Europe with Final Girls Berlin Film Festival. Catherine directed and co-produced the first four episodes of Monica West’s award winning mini series, Best Thing You'll Ever Do, which is now streaming on Amazon and Seed&Spark. The series won Best Short Drama at iTV Fest and Best Web Series at Bushwick Film Festival, among other awards. She co-produced Meredith Alloway’s short film, Interior Teresa, also streaming in Seed&Spark.

A member of Cinefemme, a bi-coastal filmmaking collective, Catherine was selected to attend Werner Herzog’s Rogue Film School in Munich, Germany in 2016, where she learned to pick locks.