Academy Award winner Mira Sorvino (“Mighty Aphrodite”) chatted about raising awareness on human and child trafficking.
On November 25th, a special New York City screening of “City of Dreams” took place at the Director’s Guild of America (DGA) New York Theater, which was followed by a panel discussion with Sorvino, director Mohit Ramchandani, and executive producer John Devaney.
For over two decades, Sorvino has been lending her voice and platform to causes that are dear to her heart. The Oscar winner also serves as a UN Goodwill Ambassador.
On the film “City of Dreams,” Sorvino said, “I really applaud Mohit and John for taking on this project about child labor trafficking because there is something about sex trafficking that really gets people’s empathy because they can really relate to the horror of it. Obviously, it is the worst thing that could happen to a child.”
Sorvino spoke about how she got involved in helping such causes.
“Back in 2004, Amnesty International asked me to host an evening about the disappeared young women of Juarez and Chihuahua, Mexico,” Sorvino said.
“I wrote a speech, I gave it and they liked it, and the next day, they asked me to be their Stop Violence Against Women campaign spokesperson,” she revealed.
Sorvino continued, “I had been looking for a way to get into service… my mother — even though she is retired now — was very service-oriented.”
“My mother used to volunteer for a Suicide Prevention Hotline called Helpline in New York City, and she used to talk people off of ledges, and that really impressed me,” Sorvino elaborated.
“My father [Paul] was a huge admirer of Dr. Martin Luther King and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. It was just a very social justice-oriented house, so once I had achieved my career status as a working actress, I wanted to get back into activism,” she acknowledged.
“I wrote my thesis at Harvard on racial conflict,” she said. “With human trafficking, the crazy part is that most of the victims worldwide (labor and sex) are women and girls.”
“So, I learned about modern-day slavery, and I didn’t realize that slavery still existed in 2004. In fact, illegal child slavey has just transformed into this illicit underground activity that can generate up to $250 billion a year,” she elaborated.
“It is always neck to neck with the illegal arms trade as the second most profitable criminal enterprise in the world,” she added.
“As a result, I became more involved, and I did a mini-series about human trafficking,” she said. “I interviewed ICE agents because I was playing an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent, and afterward, we were doing advocacy in Washington, D.C. When I met two trafficking survivors, they changed my life.”
“One of them had been trafficked into this country as a seamstress, and she was given no freedom or ability to leave,” Sorvino noted. “Luckily, she was able to escape on her own volition, and call for help, and she is now a wonderful advocate, and she trains the FBI.”
“The pain I saw in their eyes and the fact that this is happening under our noses all around us really changed something in me, and I just couldn’t look away,” she expressed.
“I had to double my efforts and become really involved in this specific form of violence against women, girls, children, boys and men all across the globe,” she elaborated.
“In 2009, the UN asked me to join them as a UN Goodwill Ambassador, and I have done that ever since. I partner with NGOs all the time in many countries,” she concluded.
“City of Dreams” is available on Amazon Prime Video by clicking here.
To learn more about Mira Sorvino, follow her on Instagram.
Read More: ‘City of Dreams‘ review
