Ghosts

This is a film based on a true story. It is a disturbing portrayal of a secret world that is all around us. Ai Qin, a young Chinese girl from Fujian, borrows $25,000 to pay the Snakehead gang to smuggle her into the UK so she can support her son and family back in China. Once in the UK, she becomes another one of three million migrant workers that are the bedrock of its food supply chain, construction and hospitality industries. She lives with fifteen other Chinese in a two-bedroom suburban house. With an illegally forged work permit, she works in factories preparing food for British supermarkets. In their search for better paying jobs to repay their debts, they end up cockling in Morecambe Bay at night. On February 5th 2004, twenty-three Chinese drowned in Morecambe. Their families in China are still paying off their debts. Ai Qin and the other principal characters are played by Chinese former illegal immigrants who have drawn on their life experiences to give passionate and authentic performances. The director, Nick Broomfield, has stepped out of his documentarian role to create a grippingly compelling film that will change your views on the entire migrant population and leave you wondering about slavery in the 21st century. Ai Qin Lin, who plays Ai Qin in Ghosts, is a former migrant worker. Having paid £15,000 to an organised gang to be smuggled to the UK illegally, she spent eight years working in poorly paid jobs, often in terrible conditions. Forced to leave her son in China, she did not see him for five years. With no formal training in drama, Ai Qin Lin’s outstanding performance in Ghosts comes directly from her experiences as an illegal immigrant working in the UK. Ai Qin Lin is now a legal resident in the UK where she lives with her son.