A Dangerous Defection

A Dangerous Defection

Bruce Von Stiers

A man is crossing a Parisian Street going over to a café. He is sprayed with something, and he falls and dies. This is the beginning of the thriller short film The Third Defector.

The dialog in the film is in French with English subtitles.

Then there is a meeting between a government agent, Aimee, and her boss. They discuss the murder of the man, who was an Iranian defector. He was the second defector to be targeted and murdered. Aimee is charged with keeping the third defector, Baraz Ahmadi, alive until all of the asylum arrangements have been made.

But there is a wrinkle. The boss is assigning another agent, Florence Aubert, to watch out for Baraz. Aimee is to watch Aubert as she watches over Baraz. Is Aubert selling out the defectors? Or possibly killing them herself? That is what the boss wants to know.

What follows is a cat and mouse game played out in the streets of Paris. Will Bazar be safe until his asylum is complete? Will Aimee be able to stop an assassin from trying to kill Bazar? And is the boss' suspicion about Aubert correct, or is that just a red herring?

Margo Luciarte played Aimee. She has appeared in several films including French Kiss. Lassana Lestin was Baraz. He was in such films as Just A Gigolo and he appeared in French Kiss. A journalist, television, and radio host, in addition to being an actor, Dee Lay Cherod played Florence Aubert. And Cedric Weber played Aimee's boss. He has had appearances in shows such as Balthazar and Alex Hugo.

John Gray wrote and directed the film. In addition to directing numerous films and television episodes, Gray was the creator of Ghost Whisperer.

John Gray also produced the film, along with Melissa Jo Peltier. Xavier Roy was the line producer. He worked on Covert Affairs and episodes of The Good Place, Veep and Shadowhunters. Peltier produced Dog Whisperer with Cesar Milan and several short films.

Joel Labat was the cinematographer. Besides French Kiss he has worked on many films and shows such as Shadowhunters, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Covert Affairs.

Other people involved in the production included Tim Kariala, Jake Carter, Pascal Salafa, Scott Boyd and Michael A. Levine. Between them, the list of film and television credits are too long to list here. But each of them has been involved in at least one top rated television show.

Andrew Luft did the music for the film. And top artist Sandrine Dumas was the art director for the film

I was nicely surprised by the conclusion of the film. I was thinking that the plot was going in one direction. Where it went was a turn that I really wasn't expecting.

I like a good espionage thriller. And The Third Defector is indeed a good thriller. It had danger, intrigue and a very satisfying twist.

The Third Defector is a finalist at this year's French Riviera Film Festival. That event is being held on May 19 th and 20 th , 2023.

The film festival has a web page dedicated to the finalists. Here is the link to that page if you want to find out about the finalists. https://frenchrivierafilmfestival.com/finalists-2023/

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