British Film Warns of Sex Trafficking for London Olympics

With one year remaining before the London Olympics opening ceremony, a new movie warns about the possibility of girls being trafficked into the city to meet the increased demand for sex.

DemandSupply2012 is a new short narrative film about the possible increase in sex-trafficking for and during the London 2012 Olympics. It was recently screened at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival as part of the shortfilmcorner and is currently being submitted to U.K. film festivals.

“Human trafficking is the illegal trade in human beings for the purposes of slavery and sexual exploitation,” says J. John from Philo Trust. “Jodi De Souza creatively communicates the horror of this injustice in her compelling short film DemandSupply2012. My prayer is that this shocking film will compel us to prayer and action.”

July 27 marked one year until the opening ceremony and director Jodi De Souza is keen to use the film to raise awareness.

“There seems to be quite a bit of caution around mentioning a possible increase of trafficking for the London Olympics,” De Souza explains. “I think people want to avoid putting any negative slant on the wonderful opportunity that the games bring for so many people, but the reality of the issue is clear for me—where there is increased demand there is always going to be increase in supply. Even one more person trafficked to meet that demand is one too many. It was not our intention to portray the games negatively, but neither do we want to be silent on the issue. Part of the success of the Canadian Winter Olympics anti-trafficking campaign was due to so much awareness being raised.”

The film juxtaposes the lives of two young girls both being ‘prepared’, one English—preparing to dance in the Olympic opening ceremony, and the other Eastern European—being trafficked into London to work as a prostitute in a brothel.

“The film DemandSupply2012 as scripted and directed by Jodi De Souza grips our attention in the innocence of youth who could be our daughters or sisters. This film leaves you with an unfinished feeling of shock in the insidiousness of captured innocence. It makes one realize that a nation in preparation for the U.K. Olympic Games must address the medals of darkness served up on the exploitation of sexual trafficking and outside the cheering venues of national pride,” says M. Christine Mac Millan, commissioner for the Salvation Army, and director of the International Social Justice Commission.

De Souza believes there is something important to be said about prevention. “If more men were aware that the prostitutes they went to see were victims of trafficking—even as young as 15 years old, forced to sleep with up to 40 men a day and with no way of freeing themselves—I’m sure many might think twice. I’ll never forget what one man said after a performance of my play No Sale about trafficking which I directed back in 2007. ‘I never knew, but now I do I will never ever go to a prostitute ever again.’ I believe raising awareness is a major key to the success of stopping this horrendous crime.”

The film will be available for public release later in the year.