Films
2010
Kevin Bales @ TED (Ideas Worth Sharing)
An inspiring assessment of modern-day slavery and how to end it.
http://www.endingslavery.com/celworx/Kevin_at_TED.html
The Wall: María Suarez story (working title)
Documentary on sex trafficking in California
co-produced by Chelo Alvarez and Cari Lutz.
http://www.innerlens.com/masalaproject/tingirlsdoc.html
2008
Modern Slavery
This 12-minute DVD is a powerful, succinct introduction to modern day slavery. The DVD features personal stories from Slavery: A Global Investigation, and is an effective tool for raising awareness about modern slavery.
http://www.freetheslaves.net/Page.aspx?pid=348
2007
Amazing Grace
Dramatic film based on the life of anti-slavery pioneer William Wilberforce. Wilberforce was elected to the British House of Commons at the age of 21. Over the course of two decades he took on the English establishment and persuaded those in power to end the inhumane trade of slavery in the British Empire.
http://www.amazinggracemovie.com/
Cargo: Innocence Lost
Docudrama about commercial sex trafficking in the United States
by Michael Cory Davis
http://www.cargoinnocencelost.com
Call + Response
CALL+RESPONSE is a documentary film that reveals the world’s 27 million dirtiest secrets: there are more slaves today than ever before in human history. CALL+RESPONSE goes deep undercover where slavery is thriving from the child brothels of Cambodia to the slave brick kilns of rural India to reveal that in 2007, Slave Traders made more money than Google, Nike and Starbucks combined.
Music is part of the movement against human slavery. Dr. Cornel West connects the music of the American slave fields to the popular music we listen to today, and offers this connection as a rallying cry for the modern abolitionist movement currently brewing.
http://www.callandresponse.com/home.html
Haiti Cherie
Features an investigation of the plantations of the Dominican Republic, where slavery is a scourge that poisons sugar and life.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1073118/
Holly
Shot on location in the brothels and alleyways of Phnom Penh, “Holly”, opens your eyes to the seedy world of sex trafficking in Cambodia. The film follows Holly (Thuy Nguyen) a 12-year-old Vietnamese girl, sold by her parents, and now highly valued for her virginity. By chance card shark and American ex-pat (Ron Livingston) and Holly meet and he resolves to save her from a horrific fate.
Lives For Sale
A one-hour investigative documentary exposes the painful, rarely seen human side of illegal immigration – including the growing black market trade in human beings.
Made in LA
This documentary film follows the remarkable journey of three Latina immigrants working in L.A.’s garment factories and their struggle for self-empowerment as they wage a three-year battle to bring a major clothing retailer to the negotiating table. In intimate verite style, Made in L.A. offers a rare and poignant glimpse into this “other” California, where immigrants in many industries toil long hours for sub-minimum wages, fighting for an opportunity in a new country.
Modern Slavery
BBC news page with features on slavery in different parts of the world including in the U.S., China, India and Haiti. Includes photo journals and a video slide show.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/world/slavery/default.stm
The Price of Sugar
This documentary follows a charismatic Spanish priest, Father Christopher Hartley, as he organizes some of this hemisphere’s poorest people, challenging powerful interests profiting from their work. Breaking a centuries old taboo, he discovers shocking examples of modern-day slavery intrinsic to the global sugar trade. Cutting cane by machete, the Haitian sugar cane workers work 12 hour days, 7 days a week frequently without access to decent housing, electricity, clean water, education, healthcare and adequate nutrition. Often they are stateless, with neither Dominican nor Haitian identity and virtually invisible in the eyes of the law. “The Price of Sugar” raises key questions about where the products we consume originate, at what cost they are produced and ultimately, where our responsibility lies.
http://www.thepriceofsugar.com/about.shtml
The Sugar Babies
Feature-length documentary film about human trafficking in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Composed of gripping field testimonies and hidden camera footage obtained during 18 months of documentation, the film also features interviews with government officials and activists. The film reveals the complicity between the government of the Dominican Republic and the sugar industry in exploiting illegal immigrants.
Trade
Drama starring Kevin Kline about a young girl trafficked from Mexico into the United States.
War Dance
The war stole everything, except their music. Set against the backdrop of Uganda’s 20 year civil war during which over 30,000 children have been abducted by a rebel army, the documentary tells the story of Dominic, Rose, Nancy and their school in the Patongo Internally Displaced Persons camp as they take a historic journey to compete in Uganda’s national music and dance festival.
http://www.wardancethemovie.com/
2006
Black Gold
Our obsession with coffee comes at a cost, a human cost. This film documents one mans mission, Tadesse Meskela, to bring a light to the plight of some 74,000 exploited coffee farmers in Ethiopia. Tadesse travels the globe in search of a fair price for coffee. Black Gold is a moving and eye-opening look into the 80-billion-dollar global coffee industry, whose spoils are sparsely shared with the farmers who make it all possible.
http://www.blackgoldmovie.com/
Blood Diamond
Feature film starring Leonard DiCaprio and Dijmon Hounsou about conflict diamonds, which is set during the Sierra Leone Civil War in 1999.
http://blooddiamondmovie.warnerbros.com/
China Blue
They live crowded together in cement factory dormitories where water has to be carried upstairs in buckets. Their meals and rent are deducted from their wages, which amount to less than a dollar a day. Most of the jeans they make in the factory are purchased by retailers in the U.S. and other countries. China Blue takes viewers inside a blue jeans factory in southern China, where teenage workers struggle to survive harsh working conditions. Providing perspectives from both the top and bottom levels of the factory’s hierarchy, this documentary film looks at complex issues of globalization from the human level. China Blue, which was made without permission from the Chinese authorities, offers an alarming report on the economic pressures applied by Western companies and the resulting human consequences, as the real profits are made—and kept—in first-world countries. The unexpected ending makes the connection between the exploited workers and U.S. consumers even clearer.
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/chinablue/film.html
Daryl Hannah’s Human Trafficking Documentary
When most famous actors or actresses wear disguises, it’s to hide themselves from over-zealous fans or the relentless paparazzi. But when Hollywood actress, Daryl Hannah, conceals her identity, it’s because her life could be in danger. That’s because Daryl is going undercover to document the disturbing truth about modern-day slavery. Experts say most of today’s slaves are women and children, forced against their will to have sex with as many as 40 men per day. Source: CSR Newswire
http://www.amw.com/features/feature_story_detail.cfm?id=1299
Sex Slaves
FRONTLINE presents a unique hidden camera documentary look at this world of sexual slavery and also follows the remarkable journey of one man determined to find his trafficked wife by posing as a trafficker himself to buy back her freedom. 60 minutes.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/slaves/
The Slavery Business
BBC TWO series that takes a fresh look at the slave trade – from the human cost to its modern legacy. Source: CSR Wire
http://www.open2.net/slavery/index.html
2005
Children for Sale
Dateline’s Chris Hansen reports on the illegal sex industry that victimizes Cambodian children as young as 5 years old, and the efforts to stop it. Dateline ventured into this dark place, where sexual predators can gain access to terrified children for a handful of cash. How could this be happening? And how can it be stopped?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4038249
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Fields of Mudan
A harrowing fictional account based on all-too-real conditions. The 2006 short film Academy Award qualifier written and directed by an FSU film student tells the story of Mudan, a young Chinese girl forced into an Asian underworld of child prostitution and modern-day slavery by a brutal brothel owner. The child’s only hope is her dream of a new life in America with her mother.
http://www.fieldsofmudan.com/about.html
Human Trafficking
Mira Sorvino and Donald Sutherland star in this thrilling movie that traces the routes of several women and children as they are bought and sold by international traffickers. This dramatic film illustrates several forms of human trafficking, particularly the sexual exploitation of women and young children. It captures the stories of victims, perpetrators, and those working to stop trafficking. Law enforcement agencies, such as Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as well as non-governmental organizations, are featured in this suspenseful tale.
http://www.mylifetime.com/on-tv/movies/human-trafficking
The New Heroes
PBS series narrated by Robert Redford chronicling some of the amazing work of social entrepreneurs around the world. Includes segments highlighting individuals working to prevent human trafficking/slavery and free existing victims/slaves including — in South Asia (India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka), in India and in Southeast Asia (Thailand, Laos, Burma and the Yunnan Province of China).
http://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/
Soldier Child
Documentary about child soldiers in Uganda
http://www.soldierchild.info/film_info.html
Stolen Childhoods
Shot in eight countries (Brazil, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal and the United States) this feature length documentary features stories of child laborers around the world, told in their own words. A boy pressed into forced labor on a fishing platform in the Sea of Sumatra; a fifteen-year-old runaway forced into prostitution on the streets of Mexico City; a nine-year-old girl picking coffee in Kenya to help her family survive. Stolen Childhoods provides an understanding of the causes of child labor, what it costs the global community, how it contributes to global insecurity and what it will take to eliminate it. The film shows best practice programs that remove children from work and put them in school, so that they have a chance to develop as children and also have a chance of making a reasonable living when they grow up.
http://www.stolenchildhoods.org/mt/index.php
The Devils Miner
Documentary about two brothers Basilio Vargas 14 and Bernardio 12, who are veteran mine workers in Bolivia’s La Cumbre silver mine. Forced into child labor to escape poverty the brothers dream of an escape.
2004
Born Into Brothels
Traces the lives children in the Red Light district of India. The filmmaker, a New York based photographer, teaches photography to the children enabling them to document their life. Winner of the 2005 Academy Award for Best Documentary Film.
http://www.kids-with-cameras.org/bornintobrothels/
Bucharest Express
An American journalist, a mysterious Gypsy woman and a bookkeeper with an inside angle try to stay one step ahead of a gang of ruthless killers as they uncover the horrors of the human trafficking of sex slaves in the Balkans. Countries throughout the former Soviet Union provide a chilling backdrop to a tangled web of corruption, betrayal and romance as this unlikely band of heroes tries to uncover the secrets of the flesh-for-heroin trade. Bucharest Express is a a hard-hitting mystery that, while fictional, blows the lid off the ruthless trade of young women.
http://www.bucharestexpress.org/
Child Camel Jockeys – Modern-Day Slavery
This is the Emmy and duPont award-winning documentary by HBO about the plight of thousands of children working as camel jockeys in the Middle East. The film focuses on the work of Ansar Burney in the United Arab Emirates to save the innocent children and bring to an end this form of child slavery. Since the documentary was aired in 2004, Ansar Burney has met with high officials of the Qatari and UAE governments and both Qatar and UAE formally banned the use of children under 16 in 2005 as camel jockeys. Efforts are now being made to help former jockeys recover and to repatriate them.
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/mauritania_40103.html
Dying to Leave
Puts a human face on the worldwide boom in illicit migration and human trafficking. An alarming number of these migrants end up in bondage, forced to work as prostitutes, thieves, or as laborers in sweatshops. The film reveals the circumstances that drove these migrants from their homes, the difficulties involved in their epic journeys, and what awaits them in their new world.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/shows/dying/index.html
http://www.roninfilms.com.au/feature/2396439441.html
Hummingbird
In the beautiful coastal city of Recife, Brazil – a world capital for sex tourism – a couple of determined women decided they would try to break the cycle of domestic violence and get kids off the streets. In the Eyes of a Child goes onto the streets and sees the harsh reality these kids face and shows how these programs help break the cycle, giving people a chance.
Gate Keeper
A true to life drama bassed on US Border Patrol and D.E.A. reports highlighting human, labor, and drug trafficking.
Human Cargo
A look at the world of refugees, and the people who sacrifice their life to help or hinder them.
Svetlana’s Journey
Drama about a 13 year old Bulgarian girl who is sold into prostitution by her adopted parents. Written and directed by Michael Corey Davis, it gives a gruesome look into the world of child trafficking. New Age Media Concepts reports that four million people around the world are victims of human trafficking, a lucrative business with an estimated annual turnover of at least 15 billion US dollars.
http://www.michaelcorydavis.com/SvetlanasJourney/svetlanas-journey.html
2003
The Day My God Died
Two decades ago, most women in India’s brothels were in their twenties or thirties. Today, the average age is 14. Narrated by Academy Award-winning actor Tim Robbins, The Day My God Died puts a human face on these abstract numbers as it recounts the stories of several Nepalese girls who were forced into the international child sex trade.
http://www.thedaymygoddied.com/
Tin Girls
Documentary focusing on the trafficking of girls for prostitution from Nepal to India. The film, one of the Valor Humano (Human Value) series of documentaries produced by Canal Plus, was first inspired by the magazine feature “When No Means Never Again”, written by Chelo Alvarez with the help of Anjana Shakya, President of Himalayan Human Rights Monitors (HimRights), published by Planeta Humano magazine, Spain.
http://www.innerlens.com/TIN_GIRLS.html
The Lost Boys of Sudan
Lost Boys of Sudan is an Emmy-nominated feature-length documentary that follows two Sudanese refugees on an extraordinary journey from Africa to America. Orphaned as young boys in one of Africa’s cruelest civil wars, Peter Dut and Santino Chuor survived lion attacks and militia gunfire to reach a refugee camp in Kenya along with thousands of other children. From there, remarkably, they were chosen to come to America. Safe at last from physical danger and hunger, a world away from home, they find themselves confronted with the abundance and alienation of contemporary American suburbia.
http://www.lostboysfilm.com/about.html
Trading Women
Follows the trade in women in all its complexity and considers the impact of this ‘far away’ problem on the global community. Narrated by Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie, the documentary investigates the trade in minority girls and women from the hill tribes of Burma, Laos and China into the Thai sex industry. It enters the worlds of brothel owners, trafficked girls, voluntary sex-workers, corrupt police and anxious politicians, explores the international community’s response to the issue and demonstrates the relationship of the trade in drugs to the trade of women. The film dispels common beliefs about the sex trade, such as: “The problem is the parents – it’s part of their culture to sell their daughters;” “The sex trade exists because of Western sex tours;” and “They sell their girls for TV’s”.
Traveling Art
