Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWire) -- 05/24/2016 --The region in and around San Francisco, California, often referred to as the Bay Area, is tragically one of the nation's largest centers for sex trafficking of innocent women and girls. Surviving International Boulevard is a short documentary film that strives to bring awareness to this major social problem that steals the lives of countless women and girls every year.
Surviving International Boulevard will be screened at 10 AM on Wednesday, May 18th, in Screening Room G in the Palais Theatre of the Marche du Film. Following the screening of the film, a special discussion and question and answer session will be held by Sian Taylor Gowan, the director and producer of the film. This discussion session will also be attended by Sarai Smith Mazariegos, who is featured as a subject in Surviving International Boulevard and is an active advocate for child sex trafficking survivors. The discussion and question and answer session is an excellent opportunity for attendees of the film festival to gain information on the making of and inspiration behind the film from Sian Taylor Gowan as well as insight on the reality of the epidemic of child sex trafficking from Sarai Smith Mazariegos.
Sian Taylor Gowan is the founder of Red Scarf Films, a filmmaking and production company that strives to release social cause films designed to spread awareness of social issues and injustices within the world as well as spur individual and group action to solve these issues. Surviving International Boulevard is the first film to be released with Red Scarf Films and is Gowan's debut in both directing and production. Gowan has a professional background in nonprofit advertising and outreach and is extremely passionate about social cause. She has combined her passion for social cause with her professional skills through her past positions as a board member for Afghans4Tomorrow and as an advertising director for AlterNet, which is a website that offers progressive online news. She also has extensive experience volunteering for and working with various nonprofit organizations to contribute to the world in a positive way. Gowan is thrilled to be able to use both her passions and her professional skills to create positive change and awareness about important social issues through her creative work with Red Scarf Films and Surviving International Boulevard.
Surviving International Boulevard is set on International Boulevard itself, which lends an eerie, realistic tone to the film. The short documentary features two real women from the city of Oakland, California who are knowledgeable about the child sex trafficking industry in the Bay Area. One of these women is a loving mother who was forced to undergo a desperate attempt to extricate her fifteen-year-old daughter from the sinister clutches of an abusive boyfriend who worked in the San Francisco sex trafficking industry. As previously stated, the other woman featured in the film is Sarai Smith Mazariegos, knowledgeable advocate for child sex trafficking survivors. In the film, Mazariegos will provide facts and information regarding the child sex trafficking industry in the Bay Area. Surviving International Boulevard is a profound, necessary film that gives viewers a shockingly real glimpse into the horrifying world of child sex trafficking that constantly occurs under our noses in the cities we know and love.
Attendees of the Cannes Film Festival 2016 who are interested in the world of short documentary film as well as social cause films should not miss the opportunity to see the screening of Surviving International Boulevard at 10 AM on May 18th. Surviving International Boulevard is a rare treasure of a short documentary film that combines emotion with facts and creates vivid imagery of the San Francisco child sex trafficking industry that will hopefully generate awareness and positive change for the victims of these sinister crimes.
Surviving International Boulevard Trailer: https://vimeo.com/126552750
Surviving International Boulevard Website: http://www.survivinginternationalboulevard.com/
Contact: sian@redscarffilms.com
About Short Film Corner
Organized by the Cannes Film Festival, the Short Film Corner is the essential meeting place for independent filmmakers. Since 2004, short film producers and directors have chosen the Short Film Corner as the place to present their films, make meetings reality and take decisive steps for their future careers.
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Media Contact:
http://www.survivinginternationalboulevard.com/
https://vimeo.com/126552750
sian@redscarffilms.com
Surviving International Boulevard Reveals the Chilling Reality of Child Sex Trafficking in One Short Film
Short documentaries can be difficult to produce well enough to effectively portray the film's desired message to its audience. However, although it is a short film, Surviving International Boulevard packs an abundance of raw truth and emotion into every single scene that allows it to leave a heavy impact on its viewers like a full-length documentary film would.