Sold

Nothing has prepared young Lakshmi (Niyar Saikia) for the surprising journey she takes in SOLD. Living in poverty in Nepal but finding joy in her simple life, the tween girl is devastated when she learns that her father has sold her to pay for a new roof after their old one collapsed in a storm. She's told that must leave home to work for a nice family. But far away, in India, Lakshmi slowly discovers that the "nice family" is, instead, Mumtaz (Susmita Mukherjee) -- the heartless owner of a brothel called "Happiness House" -- and her staff. Lakshmi's initiation and transformation into a sex worker is shocking, both to her and to viewers. Her first encounter with a middle-aged customer becomes violent when Lakshmi resists and prevails. The girl is punished; she's broken but not bowed. She finds childlike comfort in a relationship with a little boy, the son of one of her co-workers. And somehow, from behind the bars in the window of her small room, Lakshmi connects with an American journalist (Gillian Anderson) on the city streets who may be her only salvation.