Ghosts - Trailer

Ghosts
Trailer

The title Ghosts refers to the term the Chinese use to describe white westerners, but it could also be a reference to the legions of poorly paid, and unprotected non-British workers labouring in slave conditions within the food industry which many would prefer remained invisible. Nick Broomfield's second fiction feature directly addresses this other side of Britain we chose not to see and explores the exploitation and circumstances behind the daily lives of these workers who prepare our food for UK supermarkets and restaurants that culminated in the tragedy of Morecambe Bay, when 23 Chinese workers lost their lives in February 2004.

There are over 3 million migrant workers living and working in Britain today and upon whom our economy depends yet they have no rights or protection. At the film's centre is an extraordinary debut performance from Ai Qin Lin, as we follow her journey from Chinese poverty, through various low skilled jobs in the UK food industry. Partly inspired by Hsiao-Hung Pai's Guardian articles, and Broomfield's documentarian's drive for authenticity (conducting his own painstaking research and undercover filming in China as well as casting non-actors, many with experience of the migrant lifestyle), Ghosts is a compelling tale that demands consumers to question their own insatiable appetite for cheap food and put pressure on the supermarket chains to change the way in which food is produced. Until this situation changes tragedies such as Morecambe Bay will continue to happen.