Dying To Leave
- Country
- Australia
- Year
- 2004
- Director
- Chris Hilton & Aaron Woolf
- Producer
- Chris Hilton
- Finance
- Film Finance Corporation Australia
WNET New York
SBS Independent - Budget
- AUD 1.385 million
- Length
- 104 minutes (series)
Synopsis
"Dying to Leave" explores the current worldwide boom in illicit migration and human trafficking. Every year, an estimated two to four million people are shipped in containers, shepherded through sewage pipes, secreted in car chassis, and ferried across frigid waters. Others travel on legitimate carriers but with forged documents. An alarming number of these migrants end up in bondage, forced to work as prostitutes, thieves, or as laborers in sweatshops. By listening to the voices of those who pulled up their roots and risked all, the film puts a human face on what might otherwise be seen as statistical, overwhelming and remote, and reveals the circumstances that drove these migrants from their homes, the difficulties involved in their epic journeys, and what awaits them in their new world.
EPISODE 1 - HUMAN CARGO
HUMAN CARGO examines the dramatic increase in illegal smuggling of people, usually involving the voluntary passage of those in search of better economic or social conditions.
EPISODE 2 - SLAVES OF THE FREE MARKET
SLAVES OF THE FREE MARKET explores human trafficking - smuggling activity that includes a new find of indentured servitude where impossible debt is combined with brutal working conditions. Migrants are trafficked by the hundreds of thousands into the world's sex industry each year and increasingly they are also being enslaved in agriculture and construction.
Impact
“Once you begin to look into human trafficking, you think about it often. You realize that its victims are among us everywhere - not just on remote fields or in sweatshops, but in places where we live - on planes; in restaurants. Yet that knowledge doesn't tell you what to do when you think you might be seeing it. I don't know what documentaries can do to confront problems as deeply rooted as trafficking - but I do know my experience making this film has marked me.” - Aaron Gwin Woolf, Director ep 2
Dying to Leave generated dozens of Emails, many of which spoke of wanting to send financial aid to the Marcela character in the film - offers of donations were forwarded to the International Organization for Migration.
The political impact in the United States was notable: Senator Hillary Clinton appeared in conjunction with the show, and to announce the broadcast, Senator Sam Brownback gave a press conference. The film was also invited to be shown at the Secretary's Open Forum in the office of Secretary of State Colin Powell and now makes up part of the video catalogue made available in US embassies across the globe. The film is used frequently by the International Organization for Migration in their consciousness-raising efforts and by many anti-trafficking NGOs.
Dying to Leave made United Nation Association festival appearances at Stanford and Harvard Universities, and appearances at the International Human Rights Film festival in Geneva.
AWARDS:
*United Nations Association of Australia
– Media Peace Award 2004
*Walkley Award 2004
The film also received a Rockie award nomination at Banff.