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The culmination of a multi-year project comes to fruition --Red Light--a documentary written and directed by Guy Jacobson, and produced by Adi Ezroni premiered Monday night in New York City at SVA Theater on West 23rd St. Priority Films in partnership with Lexis Nexis presented RedLight benefiting RedLight Children and Restore NYC. According to Co-Director and Producer Adi Ezroni, who has been with the project for six years, attending the New York Premier is quite a coup. "We don't have specific dates as to when RedLight is going to premiere in other places; I'm sure that there are going to be more screenings in the future, but not as AMAZING as this one. The film is soon to be released on Showtime, then DVD will evenutally be marketed internationally.
The documentary, narrated by actress Lucy Liu, is a powerful introspective on human trafficking. Set in the heartland of Cambodia, several scenarios are presented to the viewer of pre-teen girls stripped from their families, and sold into a form of modern day slavery--the sex trade. The depiction of life inside contemporary brothels, and the tortuous conditions with which the young girls are faced with are startling realities. Amidst the chaos are two brave adult advocates--Mu Sochua, a Cambodian member of Parliament and Somaly Mam, a Cambodian Human Rights Advocate and interationally recognized figure, fighting the epidemic circa 2006, and the brave children they've helped along the way.
Review
The film opens with the story of two sisters, Rena and Sokha. Sokha is rescued from a brothel--she is 14+ and a victim of prostitution; she was lied to by a man in her village named Chang. Chang says he would take her to her sister Rena, who worked in a factory, to get her a job. The results of Chang's lie that would eventually trick her into a drug-filled world of underage sex via prostitution alongside hundreds of other girls in their pre-teens through early adulthood, is unbearable. The eventual power struggle that ensues with the two sisters and the Cambodian government to bring justice for Sokha becomes a pervasive tie to many of the other girls stories throughout the film.
Cameos by Susan Bissell, Chief of Child Protection for UNICEF and Kevin Bales, Author of Ending Slavery, shed light on the extent of human trafficking in Cambodia and across the world. The epidemic of sex tourists, 25 percent of which hail from the US (according to a 2005 study of NGO workers) is astounding, with the remaining larger numbers coming from various countries in Europe. Most riveting are the compassionate interviews conducted by Mu Sochua, and personal accounts of Survivor, Somaly Mam, internationally recognized, 2006 Nobel Prize nominated activist who for many years was victim of the sex trade in Cambodia herself. Mam's continued fight and "shelters" have saved over 4,000 children in Cambodia and South East Asia over the years.
The film does well in concluding on a positive note, one of hope that lays the ground work for government intervention both in Cambodia and in the US. For more information, please visit the site RedLightChildren.org or to take action please visit Take Action at RedLightthemovie.com
