With the instant reach of social media and the explosion in cyber porn, a child sex slave can be purchased online and delivered to a customer more quickly than a pizza. “Stopping Traffic: The Movement To End Sex Trafficking” initiates the conversation on a difficult topic to discuss – with raw images of life on the streets, heart-pounding rescues and gut-wrenching, personal stories – ultimately offering a story of hope and empowerment, with the goal of engaging others in launching a movement to end this modern-day form of slavery and abuse in the U.S. and abroad.
A four-year-old child’s arms are cut off to make him a more sympathetic beggar when his captors set him alongside the road … girls as young as one are used as pawns in cyber porn … young girls are groomed as prostitutes by “lovers,” many abducted from their homes and taken far away to be held as sex slaves … parents sell or are tricked into giving up their children … an activist recalls the horrors of being trafficked during her own youth … a reformed trafficker reveals his deepest regrets and recalls his own sexual abuse as a child … These are the stories of Stopping Traffic.
“Stopping Traffic: The Movement To End Sex Trafficking” marks the feature film debut of producer/director Sadhvi Siddhali Shree, a Jain monk, U.S. Army veteran (serving six years, including 16 months as a combat medic in the ambulance platoon in Iraq, reaching the rank of Sergeant), international speaker, author, passionate activist for social justice … and victim of childhood sexual abuse. Having taken a vow of monkhood, the Los Angeles native and Cal State graduate (now Spiritual Director of the Siddhayatan Tirth ashrams in Windom, Texas and Riverside, Calif.) embarked on a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign and enlisted the volunteer time of dozens of supporters in order to bring her vision and mission to life in this raw and powerful documentary.
Shot in the U.S. (Houston, Los Angeles, New Orleans), Iraq, Mexico, the Philippines and Vietnam – Shree’s slight stature and white robe cutting a stark image in the dark and threatening alleyways of the film – “Stopping Traffic” takes an unflinching, first-hand look at this shadowy underworld, telling the shocking story through the eyes of survivors, reformed traffickers, veteran activists, front-line rescue/aid organizations and celebrities who are lending their clout to the cause, including Dolph Lundgren (“The Expendables”), Jeannie Mai (co-host, “The Real”) and Kristen Renton (“Sons of Anarchy”).
In theaters September 29th, the film will enjoy a one-week run in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York City, San Diego and Washington, D.C. “Stopping Traffic” will also be released in January on VOD, during National Trafficking Awareness Month.
