One of the latest crop of very low-budget Irish features, Capital Letters uses improvisation and DV format to get to the heart of its troubling subject-matter: the exploitation of illegal immigrants in contemporary Ireland. Simon Hudson talks to writer/director Ciaran O'Connor about the challenges presented by this courageous project.

Recently Ireland has seen a series of feature films made for next to no money: between €5,000-20,000. Subjects range from horror to thriller, and from teenage stories to film noir. All of the features have been shot on digital video, with massive amounts of time and effort given for free by cast and crew alike. Capital Letters is one such film, and it's managed to look and feel like €300,000. Capital Letters came second to Adam & Paul at last year's Galway Film Festival – and it wasn't even finished.

Capital Letters is the story of a young immigrant woman, Taiwo (Ruth Negga), who is brought to Dublin by illegal means. She thinks she is traveling here to be free from the tyranny of her own country, but we soon find out she has been marked for a life of enforced prostitution. We follow her through the dark path of Dublin's seedy underworld as she progresses from waitress in a lap-dancing club, to lap-dancer, and finally prostitute.

On her journey she is befriended by small time crook Keely (Karl Sheils), who gives her shelter – but at a price. When she realises he has been using her, she runs away, only to fall into the hands of her original traffickers, gangland boss McManus (Niall O'Brien) and pimp Leslie (Jasmine Russell). Keely, realising his mistake, decides to save her from her fate in the world of prostitution, but must pay a heavy price for his heroic action.

The full article is printed in Film Ireland 106.