Singapore production company Supernova Media announced the first Singapore-Cambodia co-production at the on-going ScreenSingapore conference.

Entitled 3.50, the film is inspired by real events in Phnom Penh’s sex trafficking industry.

The thriller is co-directed by Singaporean director Eysham Ali, an alumnus of the Asian Film Academy, and Cambodian director Chhay Bora, whose Lost Loves is Cambodia’s official entry to the upcoming Academy Awards’ best foreign-language film category. 3.50 will be in English with some Khmer.

The film is about a documentary filmmaker who braves the seedy underground of Cambodia’s “virginity trade” to save a young village girl sold into prostitution.

The film started shooting last month in Phnom Penh with cast and crew from both countries and is slated for release in the middle of 2013.

Former Miss Singapore Universe, actress and former Nominated Member of Parliament, Eunice Olsen stars as the filmmaker. She says she hopes to shed light on the issue of sex trafficking which she first encountered upon meeting a survivor while working as a Goodwill Ambassador for World Vision in 2005.

“I truly want this film to inspire viewers, just as I have been,” says Olsen, who is also attached as a producer.

The film’s executive producer is Chan Gin Kai, co-founder and former CEO of Upside Down Concepts, who now chairs the Silver Media Fund. Chan’s recent projects include Australian feature film Decadence, Swedish TV series Kjell’s Asian Adventures and feature film Red Numbers, which was also announced at ScreenSingapore.