IN THE DARK, a feature narrative in pre-production
In the Dark follows Nina Kristoff, a prestigious New York Times reporter specializing in sex crimes, back to her native South Africa where she covers the brutal gang rape of an eight-year-old girl. Upon discovering her connection to the victim, who remains in a coma as the trial on her attack begins, Nina realizes she is unable to flee the grip of her native country without coming face-to-face with the reasons she was compelled to escape from it.
IN THE DARK is a character-driven narrative about a middle-aged reporter who is trying to cope with the sexually violent atmosphere that surrounds her. As she attempts to hold accountable the perpetrators of crimes she investigates as a reporter, we witness her suffering from dissociative amnesia, leaving Nina, in essence, “in the dark” in regards to her own childhood and a life she hoped had been sealed away in her subconscious when she left South Africa decades ago.
In South Africa, it is estimated that one in every two women will be raped in their lifetime at least once. Between 28% and 30% of adolescents reported that their first sexual encounter was forced (information provided by Rape South Africa). Mysticism around women and girls holding magical healing powers offers further insight into how rape became associated with a cure for AIDS, a pandemic in South Africa. A girl born in South Africa is more likely to be raped than she will learn to read, according to CIET, the Community of Information, Empowerment and Transparency.
The subtext that sexual violence, a crime that seems to operate with impunity, is as ubiquitous as everyday relationships is prevalent throughout the story as Nina continually recalls her previous cases: the gang rape of an African American teenager perpetrated by Fordham students; the accusations of rape from a NYC maid against a French Ambassador; another case involving a political official in South America; the central story of the child rape in South Africa; and the thread that holds the narrative together – the reoccurring images of Nina molested by her own father. Together they present a world of violence committed against women that seems inescapable.
