“Natasha is not for sale” is a drama/documentary film about human trafficking - about being cheated into slavery as a beggar in Poland, as a prostitute in Russia, or as a labourer. Modern slavery is a many-headed monster also in Moldova where the film is produced with assistance of a local crew and anti trafficking organisations.
Reactions from a group of volunteers, who run anti-trafficking campaigns:
“The film shows a lot of relevant issues and gives very useful information”.
“The form of the film is very different from what we are use to. It will make people curious”.
“The film covers trafficking with a much wider angel. The materials we have used so far are limited to only relate to prostitution”.
“The film is very trustworthy. Young people can easily identify themselves with the persons in the film”.
Duration 28 min. + extra materials. DVD
Original language Romanian.
Subtitles in Russian and English
Produced for: The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
© 2007 Danish Doc Production ApS
By the age of 16 she is responsible for the entire family, and tries as hard as she can to make a little money by different jobs.
She can not afford the necessary expensive medicine for the grand parents and decides to follow the advice of a friend to talk to a woman who has got connections to some people in The Czech Republic. The woman tells how she will take care of all the paper work; pass ports and visas. If the want the job they can leave very soon.
Natasha finds her offer some how both tempting and suspect. She calls the La Strada Hotline. They tell her that for several reasons the job offer does not seem reel and that she should be very careful.
Natasha talks to different persons who all know people whom have been victims of human trafficking. These people tell her three case stories, which are shown in the film.
- The first one is Vasile. He is from a small village and was trafficked to hard labour in the agricultural industry. He was exploded as a modern slave together with a group teenagers and children. They worked from five in morning until 9 at night with our any payment and only very little food.
- Ana a 35 years old mother of two children were trafficked to Poland together with her children. The 12 years old son and Ana were forced to beg more than 12 hours a day, under all weather conditions. Under terrible circumstances the baby daughter was held as a hostage by the traffickers while Ana and the boy were on the streets.
- Maria was only 16 years old when she was trafficked for prostitution to Moscow. Together with a group of young girls she was trapped in an apartment and only let out in the night in order to make money for the traffickers by prostitutions in the dark streets of Moscow. She was pregnant as a result of the many rapes, when she escaped by jumping out of a window from the second floor.
After getting to know these people’s stories Natasha decides not to accept the job offer from the trafficker who wanted her to go to the Czech Republic. But it is not easy for her to get out of reach of the trafficker. The first time the meet she gave Natasha some money for buying medicine to the grand parents. Now she is constantly calling Natasha and threatening her and her family.
Natasha is lucky. She gets help and for a period of time she can stay at a Winrock programme, where young women are educated in order to get a job or to further education.
The intensions of the film are to give a positive example of how to act safely in a situation like Natasha’s. The film show the preventional work done by La Strada’s Hotline and how it can help the person calling. The film shows an example of a young woman who investigates the circumstances connected to the “job offer”. She managed to refuse the trafficker and to find an alternative to the job she was offered.
As extra material on the DVD is an interview with Daniele Misan Nichitin, Manager of La Strada Resource Centre. She comments on some of the issues in the film:
What is La Strada Centre?
How can you know if the job offer is a real one?
When can a proposal be considered suspect?
Who are the potential victims?
What can you do if you get trafficked?