Tag Archives: andrew levine

The Day My God Died Online Social Screening

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Login for a free online social screening of The Day My God Died on Wednesday, July 11 at 1 pm PT / 4 pm ET at womenandgirlslead.org. Filmmaker Andrew Levine will be online and fielding questions from viewers. The event will take place here.

Young girls whose lives were shattered by the child sex trade describe the day they were abducted from their villages as “the day my god died.” By weaving footage from the brothels of Bombay with these girls’ stories, filmmaker Andrew Levine offers an unforgettable examination of the growing plague of child sex slavery.

Join Women and Girls Lead and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) for a special online social screening of The Day My God Died. Watch and chat live with filmmaker Andrew Levine, who spent four years traveling the world to gather stories and statistics about the child sex trade, and Kathleen Morris, who leads the Washington Anti-Trafficking Response Network for the IRC. Find out what U.S. advocates are doing to support survivors of the global child sex trade and what you can do to help.

Presented in partnership with Friends of Maiti Nepal and the PBS series Global Voices.

The Day My God Died, Sunday on Global Voices

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The ITVS-funded documentary by Andrew Levine airs Sunday, June 24 on Global Voices on the WORLD Channel.

Narrated by Academy Award-winning actor Tim Robbins, The Day My God Died lifts the veil of secrecy on the sex trafficking of Nepali children in India using footage from the brothels captured with spy camera technology. The film tells the stories of Gina, sold into sexual slavery at age 7, raped by 14 men, and beaten with sticks and aluminum rods; Anita, lured by a friend, then drugged and sold to a brothel at age 12, where she was beaten and threatened with being buried alive; Maili, trafficked at age 19, along with her infant daughter who was seized and used as “insurance” to keep Maili from fleeing; and Jyoti, sold at age 12, raped, choked, and forced to drink alcohol to break down her resistance.

Watch the trailer after the jump. Continue reading →

CNN’S Hero Award Goes to Independent Lens Subject

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This year Anuradha Koirala received CNN's Hero of the Year Award

Last week CNN honored Anuradha Koirala with their Hero of the Year award. Koirala is one of the foremost activists working to abolish sex trafficking in Nepal and India. She was also one of the subjects featured in the 2004 Independent Lens film The Day My God Died. Andrew Levine directed that documentary and shared his thoughts with BTB on this year’s hero.

There in front of me was a room, a room of lost innocence, a room of stolen youth. Thirty young girls and babies all returned from India. All dying of AIDS, all knowing they are dying of AIDS. Every emotion running through me. Should I cry? Should I scream? What should I do?

— Andrew Levine, Journal Entry, April 20, 1999

It was there in Nepal on my very first day where everything changed.  We were visiting Maiti Nepal founded by Anuradha Koirala, who provides aftercare for the young girls who had been rescued from the brothels of Mumbai.

It was that exact moment when I realized the first step must be to document the real story, by combining real words and real statistics with pictures that don’t lie.
Continue reading →