STUDIO 701
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Movie filmed in Linton inspired by shoeless girl in gas station
LINTON, ND (KXNET) — The idea for an upcoming film about human trafficking came to filmmaker Ejaz Khan while he was inside a gas station during the wintertime. He noticed a shoeless girl, whose feet were dirty and turning bluish. His curiosity and suspicion pushed him to strike up a conversation with her and inspired him to tell “her” story.
Trapped was filmed from February through March 2023 in Linton, ND. North Dakotans know this is typically one of the coldest times of the year. Khan, a New Yorker, said with a laugh that the filming during winter in North Dakota was miserable.
“I have to be honest with you. My actors came from all over the country, but nobody had experienced cold weather,” said Khan. “I have actors from Seattle, I have actors from New York. There are actors from North Dakota as well who were aware.”
Though the movie is based on a true story, Khan has kept the girl’s identity private and it is not only based on this one particular girl’s story but a culmination of similar stories of human trafficking he found through research of girls from all around the country.
“This is the second largest crime happening in the United States. I mean girls at the age of seven are being sold, girls at the age of three are being sold. I mean I can’t even believe it. I did a lot of research and I did a lot of interviews with undercover cops, FBI agents, organizations that help girls in this situation, and after doing about 80 of them, and meeting these girls…I sat down and started to write the story from different lives and things they have gone through. It is all true events, none of it is fake. It’s not one person’s story, but it’s a story of many American girls.”
Khan concludes that he hopes that those who watch the movie open up a dialog with their children to be proactive in preventing further stories like the story that is told in Trapped.
Trapped is slated to be released to theaters on January 31, 2025. Khan said it is expected to run in theaters for about a month. After that he expects it to be available on Amazon, iTunes, and Google Play.