Channel 4, in partnership with the UK Film Council, the Film Agency for Wales and Limelight, has commissioned an original feature length drama from the makers of The Last King Of Scotland, starring upcoming international talent, Wunmi Mosaku (Moses Jones), Lubna Azabal (Occupation, Body of Lies), Igal Naor (The House of Saddam) and Nonso Anozie (Occupation, Atonement). Writer Jeremy Brock and producer Andrea Calderwood collaborate for the first time since the Oscar®-winning The Last King of Scotland. They are joined by director Gabriel Range (Death of a President) on the currently untitled project, which, inspired by real life events, is an extraordinary story about one woman's fight for freedom from modern day slavery.

"The figures for people trafficked into domestic servitude are even more difficult to ascertain, as these people, by definition, work alone or in small groups in residential properties, are scattered and very rarely come to the attention of the UK authorities." Home Affairs Committee report on Human Trafficking in the UK 2009

Home Office figures put the number of trafficking victims currently in slavery in this country at 5,000 people. The real life accounts of displaced persons sold into domestic servitude here in the UK were the inspiration for this as yet unnamed project.

In the Nuban region of Sudan, 12-year-old Malia is snatched from the arms of her father during a Muharaleen raid on their village. Beaten and sold into slavery, she spends the next six years of her life working for a Sudanese family, then at 18, Malia (Mosaku) is sent to work in London.

The city swiftly becomes as much a prison as the home in which she is kept; hidden in plain sight, Malia's desperate situation goes unnoticed or uncared for by everyone she comes into contact with. Stripped of her passport and living in terror of what might happen to her family in the Sudan should she speak out, Malia is trapped in an unforgiving, alien environment.

Despairing of the life to which she has been condemned, she has to call on all her strength to make a dramatic escape back to Sudan and to the father who never gave up hope she was alive, and who never stopped searching for her.

The 90 minute feature, currently in production, is being made by Slate Films/Potboiler Productions and the Borough Picture Company and is co-financed by Channel 4, the UK Film Council, the Film Agency for Wales, Limelight and Molinare. The film is being made for theatrical release, with ContentFilm handling international sales for the film, including profiling the film at the upcoming Berlin International Film Festival in February. The film will have its UK television premiere on Channel 4 in 2010.

Channel 4 Head of Drama, Camilla Campbell says; "This project continues C4's established reputation for tackling difficult subject matter that sets the agenda. With the writer and producer of the Oscar®-winning Last King of Scotland, as well as the director of Death of a President, this will be an outstanding piece of film-making which will raise challenging and difficult questions."

Lenny Crooks, Head of the UK Film Council's New Cinema Fund, said: "The UK Film Council is pleased to have invested Lottery funding that has helped to make this inspirational feature film possible. It tells a tough human story with care and compassion, and in the strong collaborative hands of Gabriel, Jeremy and Andrea, it will give UK audiences an uncompromising insight into the complexities of Malia's world. With Content Film handling international distribution, I look forward to seeing the film reach out to other territories, starting with Berlin this month."

Pauline Burt, Chief Executive of the Film Agency for Wales added: "We're delighted to be able to facilitate Gabriel Range's work, especially alongside such a talented and proven team. Gabriel is one of the most interesting, inspirational and talented directors to have emerged from Wales recently, and it's particularly rewarding that this project has a truly international relevance and appeal."