Sonejuhi Sinha’s feature debut has found a home. Samuel Goldwyn Films snagged North America rights to “Stray Dolls,” a crime drama that world premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in April. Variety broke the news.
Penned by Sinha and Charlotte Rabate, the pic tells the story of Riz (Geetanjali Thapa), a former gang member starting over in America as a maid in a motel owned by [Cynthia] Nixon’s Uno, who runs the joint with her drug-dealing son,” the source summarizes. “It’s not long before Riz is entwined again in a web of crime, attempting to escape with her roommate and fellow maid (Olivia DeJonge).”
“Stray Dolls” is expected to be released in early 2020.
“Samuel Goldwyn shares my passion for this salty world and these complex and flawed characters,” Sinha commented. “I’ve always seen ‘Stray Dolls’ as a story that picks up themes from the American and global zeitgeist and I am excited to see it reach a wide and enthusiastic audience.”
When we asked the writer-director what drew her to the project, she said, “A few years ago, while volunteering at Women’s Prison Association, I came across many stories of American women who fell into a life of crime. Most of them made a decision to protect their family, which resulted in jail time. The rate of women prisoners incarcerated in America has gone up 10 times since the 1990s, and I felt the reasons behind it were endlessly fascinating and complex,” Sinha explained.
“From here, my goal became to explore the grey areas of who we see as a ‘criminal’ and the circumstances that force somebody to commit a crime,” she recalled. “At the heart of it, I wanted to tell a story about complex and flawed people who are forced to take matters into their own hands.” Sinha emphasized, “As a first generation immigrant, I know firsthand that our lives are not reducible to a mere struggle for survival. I wanted my characters to reflect the complex web of desires, emotions, and needs that define all people from all backgrounds.”
Sinha’s first narrative short, “Love Comes Later,” premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.
