Synopsis
Director Paula van der Oest is an Academy Award nominee (ZUS & ZO) and also directed the international succes BLACK BUTTERFLIES.
A business banker, Mark, in London takes too much risk, and by trying to take over an American bank, everything collapses and both banks UK and USA go into bankruptcy.
A mechanic, Jack, in Michigan, who works at a corporate limoservice, looses his job when a big client – the American bank – withdraws. He is about to marry Sally and has to cancel the order of a luxurious wedding cake.
The (Indian) woman, Serena, who makes the wedding cakes – she has a small company-is not able to pay back a loan to her brother in New Dehli.
The brother, Ishan, a bookkeeper with a very bad set of teeth, who is hopelessly in love, already started an expensive course of treatment to fix his teeth – he has no teeth now-commits malversation to pay for it and run away with his girl.
In China, a trader, Shen, in Chinese jeeps whose wife grew up in extreme poverty and rather wants to die than having to go back to the poor countryside discovers all the money in his account has vanished. He calls his client in The Netherlands and tells him he can’t deliver the jeeps anymore.
The Dutch client, Kai, is a former artist who sells Chinese jeeps now. All the money his clients already paid in advance is invested in the new restaurant (a social rehab project) of his girlfriend Antoinette. They have to tell their nanny Mosa that they are not able to pay her anymore.
The nanny calls her sister in Cape Town, who takes care of her children, to tell her she won’t send money the coming months. Her sister cannot take care of the children anymore and sends them away. The daughter Lilian and handicapped brother Milton of the nanny end up in the street, the daughter becoming a prostitute.
The banker, Mark, who lost everything, is running in the streets of Cape Town (He is a runner). He meets Lilian, the daughter of the nanny and her brother and takes them to his hotel room. He says he will take care of her and her brother.Through the world economy, the lives of people who live in different places all over the world are suddenly connected.
The film is a series of stories about what happens, when people lose their safety net, especially in societies where identity and feelings of luck and wellbeing depend on economical success. It is about dreams and aspirations and about loss and the fear of loss – about the importance of family and love.
The film is shot on locations in Rotterdam, London, Michigan, Goa, China and South Africa.