2. This isn’t just a foreign problem. As UNICEF’s Susan Bissell explained, “The legislation that is in place rarely protects children from being criminalized from where they’re found – in prostitution, for example. There are only two states right here in the United States that have that kind of legislation to protect children…. fewer than half the countries in Europe currently have legislation to protect a child who is trafficked into prostitution.” The film focuses on Cambodia, but there’s plenty of evidence that this problem exists in our own back yards.
3. Mu Sochua – former Cambodian cabinet minister and Nobel Prize nominee – is literally risking her life get this movie out. Sochua has worked tirelessly to end the child sex trade in Cambodia; trying to hold the powerful and affluent who are responsible for the film’s atrocities. In return, Sochua has received death threats, threats and harassment of her family, and has been exiled from her home. What have you done today? Read some blogs? That’s what I thought. Mu Sochua wants you to see REDLIGHT, so see REDLIGHT.
4. There’s hope. Yes, REDLIGHT is filled with scene after scene of despair. But some women survive. Some are brave enough to fight a losing battle in the courts against their abusers. Survivor and activist Somaly Mam is featured prominently in the film, helping other young survivors heal and move on after the horrors they have endured. Uplifting, this movie is not. But as Mu Sochua said, “Out of all of this darkness, there is hope.”
Visit the REDLIGHT website for up-to-date information about the film’s future distribution plans, or look for it on Showtime.
Honoring Somaly Mam and her greatest fan Lauren Bush.
Guy Jacobson out to stop ‘human trafficking.’
