How do you describe Honeychild?
Honeychild is a feature-length documentary that follows the
story of an American-born woman, prostituted as a child, as she journeys
across the United States with her daughter, recounting her
extraordinary struggle for survival in the 1970's sex trade. Together
they expose far more truths about America's children in the sex
industry, than either had ever imagined possible.
How were you made aware of this story?
About 5 years ago I was going through some keepsake boxes
with my mother, when we stumbled upon a box with old letters and
photographs from the 1970's documenting her past. It wasn't until that
moment that I realized my mother had been prostituted as a child. I was
curious and wanted to know more, so began delving into her story and
then also researching current events. It was then that we realized this
story was bigger than either of us imagined. I gathered a team together
also passionate about the cause. Every day we learn something new that
causes us to grow as a team. It's been a humbling and sometimes painful
experience.
What compelled you to make this project?
My mother. I knew what trafficking was before I found out
about my mothers story. And knew even before then that I wanted to bring
more awareness, but didn't know how. When I found out my mother had a
story and she wanted to share it.. well that was all the encouragement I
needed.
How far are you into the project?
We have been working on it for almost 4 years now. It's been
slow because we haven't been very aggressive with raising money, until
now. Once we are successful with the fundraising on Indiegogo, we will
be able to finally finish production. Which will be huge for us in the
completion of the film.
Woman's rights are an incredibly important and under discussed
subject in this country. While you are telling a very specific story do
you hope the film will speak to a larger problem that quietly exists all
around us?
Absolutely, our desire is to not only see the hearts of our
community changed. But we want to see policies changed. The way we
currently respond to vicitims is horrendous... I can't even tell you how
many survivors I've spoken to and the atrocities they have had to deal
with just in trying to exit the sex industry. While there are some
positive changes being made, there needs to be more. We need to shift
the way our minds work. It's a leviathan so to speak, the sex industry
has created this incredible myth about prostitution that so many
Americans aren't even aware they have bought into. It's a dangerous
beast to tackle, but we are willing and able to do it.
What is the Nordic Model?
The Nordic Model was passed in Sweden in 1999. Essentially
what is says is that you can sell yourself for sex, but it is illegal to
buy or sell another person for sex. What this does is it criminalizes
the buyers and the traffickers/pimps, and not the woman. They believe
that most women are forced into this type of lifestyle, by not
criminalizing the woman, we are able to offer her an out. For instance,
when a man and a woman are caught in a transaction, the man (buyer) is
arrested and the woman is offered an out if she so chooses, which most
often she does. Their country puts money into resources that allow women
to choose to learn another trade. "johns" and traffickers however are
arrested, have their picture put in the paper, have notices sent to
their neighbors, have their cars impounded, etc. Since the model was
established, while initially mocked, prostitution has gone down over
80%. It is because of these numbers that neighboring countries who
initially mocked the model have chosen to introduce it into their own
countries. There are now 5 countries that have adopted this policy.
Ireland most recently. Canada is looking at it, and slowly introducing
the idea.. I hope that the U.S. isn't far behind. I believe this is a
solution that will far benefit our children and nation.
Why did you chose the crowd sourced funding method?
We met John Trigonis last year at SXSW. He is the film
campaign specialist for Indiegogo. After speaking with him, and hearing
how much he believed in our film and cause, he convinced us that we
should use their platform to help aid in success. Also, our executive
producers were very encouraging to move forward with crowd source
funding.
Are there any crowd sourced projects that inspired you to go this route?
My team has all used Kickstarter before, each independently
via other projects. We've all had good success from them. It was just
time to use a different platform and shake things up a little bit. I'm
very proud of my team.
Please give whatever you can to this important film. Click here to check out the campaign page.