Already seen all of Netflix’s original films? No problem.
NC Broadcasting professor Christopher Bessette’s new film Trade of Innocents is now available to the entire NC community online through ncLibraries. Until March 2019, the film can be viewed online through the College’s on-demand streaming service as ncLibraries awaits a DVD hardcopy which will be available to all NC staff and students.
The film, starring Academy Award-winning actor Mira Sorvino and Dermot Mulroney, raises awareness of child exploitation through human trafficking in current day Southeast Asia.
Since its release in 2012, the film has received national and international attention including taking home awards for Best Director and Best Drama at the 2012 Breckenridge film Festival in Colorado, and becoming the focus of a symposium on human trafficking at Yale University. Most recently, Bessette attended Canadian International Faith and Family Film Festival (CIFF) in September 2018 with multiple award nominations for Trade of Innocents, and walked away with the Best Director award, while cast member Sorvino also won Best Lead Actress for her role in the film.
Formerly a NC student himself, the long-time Thorold resident has built a career as a multiple-award-winning filmmaker, motion picture writer/director/producer. His international career in the television and film industry has led him across Canada, the U.S. and Europe, as well as to Central America, Russia and Southeast Asia.
In addition to Trade of Innocents (2012), his feature films include and The Enemy God (2008) which he directed, that spans 50 years of an Amazonian tribe. He wrote directed and produced the documentary Niagara: Thunder of the Waters (2016). His novel The Mythamohre was published in 2013.
“I have told the students before, that I am just a guy from Fonthill, when I was at NC I had no idea where life or my education would take me,” said Bessette. “It is extraordinary to me that I have these opportunities. I hope it encourages them too.”
Staff and students can access Bessette’s Trade of Innocents for free through NC’s on-demand screening service Kanopy by logging in with their Blackboard username and password.
