See free screening of ‘I Am No Queen’ film on international student sex work in Brampton

The city is holding a free screening of a bold independent film that shows the real-life horrors of international students forced into the sex trade in Brampton and across Canada.

The film, called I Am No Queen, was directed by Brampton filmmaker Shadab Khan and is being screened by the city as part of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.

And while the story of Rani is a work of fiction it’s based on real-world events.

Rani, whose name means “queen” in Hindi, finds herself tangled in a web of financial struggles after moving to Canada to study at a fraudulent private college – a situation many students have found themselves in after moving from India.

Struggling to make ends meet between living expenses and payments owed to loan sharks, Rani’s desperation leads her into the arms of Harry – a pimp with his own struggles who leads her down a dark and dangerous path.

The film stars Toronto actress Fatima Iqbal as the lead role of Rani was a breakout hit at the both the Toronto International Film Festival and International Film Festival of South Asia, and the city is holding a free screening at SilverCity Brampton Cinemas on Wednesday night.

The free event is being put on by Brampton On Stage “to increase awareness and encourage change amongst community leaders,” and will feature a panel discussion before the screening moderated by Coun. Rowena Santos with Loveen Gill of OMNI News, Gurpreet Malhotra, CEO Indus Community Services, and producers Deep and Minu Basi.

Khan and the Basis drew on real cases to craft the story, like dozens of students found crammed into a Brampton basement, fake schools and consultants, and women forced into prostitution by abusers.

The latest data from Peel Regional Police shows officers responded to just over 16,000 incidents of family and intimate partner violence last year – that’s 44 disputes every day or almost two every hour in Mississauga and Brampton.

Police are again running the Break the Silence campaign for a fifth year, encouraging residents to talk about family and intimate partner violence in our community to challenge misconceptions and let survivors know help is available.

Brampton City Council is also urging both the federal and provincial governments to step up and take action to better protect international students from human traffickers, saying removing sex work as a condition for deportation is a crucial step towards cracking down on traffickers and getting student victims the help they need.

The screening of I Am No Queen runs on Wednesday at SilverCity Brampton Cinemas. Tickets are free and the doors open at 6 p.m. with the panel discussion at 6:30 p.m., and the screening at 7 p.m.