Guest Blogger: Julie Jacobson

Next Tuesday, the Embassy will partner with Human Rights Watch, Equal Voice and the Nobel Women’s Initiative for an important awareness event about human trafficking.  Award-winning documentary filmmaker Mimi Chakarova will be in Ottawa to present her harrowing documentary “The Price of Sex.” 

Bulgarian-born Chakarova and her family immigrated to the United States in 1990 following the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe.  The film follows her return to her home a decade later and her discovery that new opportunities in the West left many of the old communities impoverished and without hope.  One tragic consequence was that hundreds of thousands of young women left their homes to follow a dream of economic security for their families, only to find that they had been tricked into a nightmare of sexual slavery with no hope of escape.

In the documentary, Chakarova follows the trail of these “disappeared women,”  forming relationships with several over a period of years.  She elicits their heartbreaking stories; even taking the extraordinary risk of going undercover in the sex clubs.

“The Price of Sex” has been shown around the world to critical acclaim and has received the Nestor Almendros Award for Courage in Filmmaking.  It casts a desperately needed spotlight on this worldwide crisis.  I’m proud, as an American, that my country has taken a leading role in trying to stop this cruelty.  Secretary of State Clinton has called it a modern form of slavery, and an affront to our values.  I couldn’t agree more.

The film is open to the public free of charge at The Library and Archives of Canada, 395 Wellington Street, at 2:00 pm on Tuesday January 10.  Following the screening, Mimi will answer questions from the audience.

To attend, please send an RSVP email to cultural@state.gov

Julie Jacobson