Feature Fillm. Set in Bondi, Australia & Dhaka, Bangaldesh. Budget under $750k.
LILI, a beautiful twenty-something Australian girl living in Bondi has just buried her mother and is awaiting her journey to scatter her mother’s ashes across Kuakata Beach in Bangladesh.
On her last night out in Sydney, Lili she discovers her boyfriend, VICTOR having sex with her childhood bestfriend, SOPHIE.
Dumped and alone, Lili boards her flight to Bangladesh.
On arrival into Dhaka, Lili explores the city’s mosques and Hindu temples. On her second day, she purchases her bus ticket to Kuakata Beach and heads off to the local markets.
Amongst the exotic foods, smells, and vibrant materials, Lili gets lost. In an alleyway, she witnesses a small girl being confronted by a man on the street. Suddenly, the man throws acid on the girls face.
Shocked, Lili screams for help. But nobody is willing to help the girl. Lili takes the girl to the local hospital; where she stays holding the frightened girls hand.
In the morning, Lili is torn between her empathy for the young, HASINA, and her desire to catch the bus to Kuakata beach. But when she discovers that the man who threw the acid was the HASINA’s FATHER and that she is now an orphan, Lili decides to stay.
At the hospital, Lili befriends the female doctor, AMRITA treating Hasina. Amrita begins to educate Lili about acid attack and introduces her to the other survivors of acid attacks.
Day after day, Lili is drawn back to the hospital, to Hasina, to Amrita, and the other survivors in the acid ward.
After stumbling across, MALIKA, a recently released patient living on the streets, Lili invites the teenage girl to stay with her. With guidance from Amrita, Lili rents a home for the acid survivors which they nickname, the Acid House.
Things take an interesting turn when Amrita’s brother, ABHIK arrives. An oxford-educated NGO-worker, Abhik is in Dhaka until he leaves for his next placement. When he meets Lili sparks fly immediately.
But soon trouble is brewing in the local neighbourhood and Lili begins to receive threats. Undeterred, Lili continues to her campaign to end acid attacks and bring’s more survivors into her home more survivors.
But when Lili finds herself a target of acid violence, her life changes forever; through a strange twist, Amrita opens the door to Hasina’s father who douses her in acid.
Abhik blames Lili for the attack on his sister and leaves Dhaka; abandoning his sister and Lili.
But Lili stays and returns to the hospital every day, this time to be beside her only true friend. Time passes by but when Amrita’s health rapidly deteriorates, word is sent to Abhik and he returns. Sadly, too late.
Shocked by his sister’s death, Abhik hardly recognizes the transformed Lili. They rekindle their love and finally Lili goes to Kuakata Beach and with her Hasina, Malika and Abhik, she scatters her mother’s ashes.
