Ophidian Films to Host a Screening of Documentary 'Trading Women' June 20 at National Press Club

6/12/2003

From: Cynthia Rosenfeld of Ophidian Films Ltd, 310-567-1801; email: meixin620@aol.com

News Advisory:

Ophidian Films and American Public Television will host a screening of the powerful documentary, "Trading Women," produced by anthropologist and filmmaker Dr. David Feingold.

Feingold will be at the National Press Club to introduce the film along with a written statement by the narrator, Academy Award winning actress Angelina Jolie.

When: June 20, 2003

Time: 9:30 a.m.

Where: The National Press Club, 529 14th St, NW, 13th Floor, Washington, D.C.

"Trading Women" is a documentary that investigates the trade in minority girls and women from Burma, Laos and China into the Thai sex industry. The culmination of 5 years of field research, the film shatters Western myths about the sex trade: "Its part of their culture to sell their daughters." "The problem is the parents." "It's because of Western sex tours." "They sell girls for TVs."

The film shows that, in reality, trafficked hill tribe girls do not land in the bar streets of Bangkok that cater to Westerners -- known to tourists, journalists and film-goers alike. They move into a world, far more hidden, and, as one character in the film says, "far more sinister" -- and far more likely to infect them with HIV/AIDS. The film takes us into that world, meeting girls, brothel owners, and traffickers, as well as those seeking to combat the trade. It also shows the casual, everyday nature of police corruption.

"Trading Women" examines the efforts of the U.S. Government to fight trafficking through a punitive regime that will sanction any country that does not meet U.S. standards -- an approach that some feel may be counter-productive.

The film answers the question: why has there been an exponential increase in highland women moving into the sex trade? Thirty years ago, there was a thriving sex industry in Thailand, but there were no minority girls in it: no Akha, no Lahu, no Hmong, no Karen. What happened? "Trading Women" shows how the upland economy was destroyed by a combination of well-meaning development and opium suppression programs in Thailand; and civil unrest, economic dislocation, and repression in Burma. The result threatens both the physical and cultural survival of highland minorities.

Filmed in China; Burma; Laos; Thailand; New York; and Washington, D.C., this is the only film to follow the trade in women in all its complexity, and to explore the international response to the issue.

"Trading Women" is directed and written by award-winning anthropologist-filmmaker David A. Feingold, and produced by Dean W. Slotar and David A. Feingold, and edited by Sam Lee.