A heroin addict and a Christian with terminal cancer are thrown together by a stolen lottery ticket that intertwines their lives into a fragile romance that tests the limits of faith, love and forgiveness.
A Brisbane-based independent feature film currently in pre-production. Contact.
Set in the grimy undercurrent of 1990s suburban Melbourne, The Lottery is a lyrical and emotionally charged drama about connection, addiction, and redemption.
Claire is juggling multiple jobs in a desperate bid to afford life-saving immunotherapy for her cancer. With no support from her religious family and no help from the banks, her situation becomes increasingly desperate. One day, in the blur of stress and desperation, she buys a Lottery ticket only to have it stolen by Adam when she accidentally drops her wallet. The ticket ends up having the winning numbers and, rather than returning it, Adam and his best friend Ben use the sudden wealth to fuel their drug habits. Ben fatally overdoses and Adam is left alone, haunted, and spiritually numb.
Adam retreats from the world until a second chance meeting reconnects him with Claire who has turned to prostitution to earn the money necessary for her cancer treatment. Their encounter at the brothel doesn’t unfold as expected. Both are too emotionally raw and together they stumbles through their session. Instead of sex, they talk, exchanging memories, secrets, and invented truths.
Over time, a bond forms. Claire lets down her guard, sensing Adam’s vulnerability, his humour, his gentleness. Adam starts to feel something genuine for the first time in years and Claire becomes the centre of a new gravitational pull, giving him reason to hope and to heal.
But the stolen lottery ticket and Claire's unspoken medical diagnosis hangs over them, concealed in the background, a hot shot waiting to be main-lined into their relationship.