Join the La Salle community for the Diplomat-in-Residence Program Spring 2013 series
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Dan Rodden Theatre
12:30 – 2:00 p.m.
Film Screening and Discussion
Walking Merchandise
a film about Chinese human trafficking in the United States
Featuring the Director, Ethan Dowling and Producer, Rob Nguyen
Walking Merchandise tells the story of children who are sent by their families from China to the United States, accompanied only by human smugglers known as “snakeheads”. Following their arrival, they work for years in poor conditions for less than minimum wage, in order to pay off smuggling debts as high as $100,000. They have no say in their families’ decisions to send them to work and live on their own, thousands of miles away from home. In Walking Merchandise, five children speak out about their experiences, from their homes in Fujian China, to restaurants from Rhode Island to Alabama. As they recount their experiences, they are joined by social workers, attorneys and journalists with intimate knowledge of the children's stories, and the global forces that have brought them to America.
The film was initially funded by a fellowship from Columbia University’s Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict and Complexity, and was completed with the support of 153 individual donors through www.Kickstarter.com. Walking Merchandise was accepted into the Rhode Island International Film Festival, an an Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences qualifying event, and had its world premiere in Providence, RI on July 12, 2012.
www.walkingmerchandise.com
Co-sponsored with the Multicultural and International Center
Join us for the next event, Feb. 26, 2013, Petraeus and the Iraqi War. |