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• Cannes 2017 (Debut)

Year of production : 2017

Director(s) : Michael HURST
Writer(s) : Rene LE BAS
Producer(s) : Murray FRANCIS (Propaganda), Sir owen GLENN

INSIDE DOPE
INSIDE DOPE - As a result of a bungled undercover operation to stop a major drug importation Duane Ricketts is fired from the police force. To win back his job he takes on criminal traits and snares the crime czar of Auckland, Bryce Spurdle, by deception and plays him at his own game to rid the streets of both the drugs and to finally imprison Spurdle

Coromandel Peninsula. Duane Ricketts is a handsome likeable rogue on an under-cover mission infiltrating a drug ring. When a smuggler named Dale Varty recognises Ricketts as a cop, the bust goes south. When Drug baron Bryce Spurdle double crosses Varty, he escapes with 10 kilos of Spurdle’s cocaine. Ricketts and his police partner, Sergeant Tito Ihaka, have missed their only opportunity to arrest Spurdle. Ricketts gets blamed for the bust gone wrong, and is fired from the police.

Three years later, Ricketts’ determination to bust Spurdle has only intensified. He tracks Varty to a Thai prison where he finds Varty dying from a knife wound and near death. Varty asks Ricketts to find his estranged daughter, who will know where he has hidden the coke and make sure she is looked after.

Ricketts returns to NZ to find Electra, Varty’s daughter, who knows little about her dad’s smuggling days – or where he hid the coke. A DEA agent, Buddy Funke has been tipped off about the drugs and is after the coke for himself to top up his retirement fund . Ricketts find’s Varty’s ex lawyer who has been brutally murdered and Ihaka is the investigating officer, so Ricketts ends up on the wrong side of Ihaka again.

Funke triggers a childhood memory of a special place where Electra and her father Varty once shared time and he ends up in possession of the coke. Funke intends to sell the coke back to Spurdle. Spurdle has no interest in paying twice for the stash and tries to double-cross Funke. Det. Sgt. Ihaka arrives in the middle of the process and in the ensuing standoff Ihaka shoots Funke in the head in self defence. But red tape and due process prevents Ihaka from arresting Spurdle.

Amidst the chaos, Ricketts whisks Electra away to his place to keep her safe from Spurdle and his goons. They connect over a shared history with Varty albeit on different sides of the law.

When it seems like Spurdle will get away again, Ricketts formulates a plan. He realizes that in order to get Spurdle, he will have to beat the kingpin at his own game and take on criminal traits which ironically he would not have been able to employ when working as a policeman and Ricketts is able to steal the coke from under Funkes nose and cuts a deal with a still shaken Spurdle .

In a harbourside trade off where Spurdle once again tries to rip Ricketts off and after a brief firefight with Ricketts ex special-forces sniper mate providing friendly fire Spurdle flees with the Coke straight into a Police trap. Ihaka and a SWAT team swoop in and arrest Spurdle. At long last, Ihaka and Ricketts have got their man.

The Drugs are off the streets and the Drug Kingpin is finally behind bars. Ricketts is back on the force and in a relationship with Electra.