JUDY PHU
director of photography

Shot on Location in Oakland, CA  | TRT 13m

Currency explores the themes of sex trafficking, gentrification, socio-economic inequality and the many traps young women face today across the globe. Currency was shot on location in Oakland, CA with a local crew of men and women sensitive to the film’s subject matter. It is loosely based on the life of the short film’s talented and humble star, Caridad Johnson. Caridad invited the filmmakers into her world and bravely reinterpreted and in some cases re-lived moments from her past life. With the support of Mamacita’s Café, a woman-owned and operated social enterprise with the mission to support system-impacted youth, and individuals from the Non-Profit organization MISSSEY, the cast, the crew and the filmmakers hoped to paint a realistic picture of what life can hold for young women vulnerable to poverty, toxic masculinity and America’s other systemic inequities.