Filmmaker Christina Zorich follows committed, established individuals (abolitionists) from both private and government organizations as they attempt to affect change in ending human sex trafficking, globally. Our story focuses on South East Asia.
Eight months of investigative research revealed a decipherable structure to the collective process of combating this criminal industry and those victimized by it. Experts and specialists will be interviewed and placed strategically throughout the film. The goal is to help the audience process and confront this difficult subject matter. Answering the question: how do we, collectively; face, heal and truly fight this evil off and out of our midsts?
Christina Zorich:
Executive Producer/Director
The New Abolitionists is beyond a passion project for me. For the past 35 years, I’ve been a working professional as an actor, acting teacher, director and producer. I’ve trained, taught and performed in some prestigious and respected theaters and training institutions on the East and West Coast; producing music videos, a web series and numerous plays. However, my life changed a few years ago during a chance meeting in Hollywood. I met Erica Greve of Unlikely Heroes.
Like many people I’ve met, the Human Sex Trafficking Industry was a subject that was not even close to being on my radar. Yet, when Erica exposed and expressed to me the intense level of suffering she had witnessed of its victims first hand, I knew I was incapable of turning a blind eye. She then further shared how being a registered nurse herself had made her aware of the lack of treatment and medical facilities available to these victims. She had now committed her life to building, staffing, and the operation of homes for women and children who needed a place to, in essence, rehabilitate. She and her staff were in a constant process of rescuing and providing the important aftercare young women and children needed from this horrific industry.
Her story compelled me into action. I gave her contacts of every director and filmmaker I knew, hoping they could shoot footage for her NGO, Unlikely Heroes, to fundraise the materials, resources and expenses needed. Unfortunately, everyone requested money to film. Erica’s response to me was, “Christina, all money has to go to the girls.” It was in this moment I realized: acts of service, small and large, were required to fight this fight. This is when I first got the idea for “The New Abolitionists.”
I spent the next few years educating myself; researching and investigating human sex trafficking. I began an apprenticeship under a respected documentarian. I took classes and committed myself to a mission trip to Thailand and Cambodia with a ministry and began shooting.
Since that initial trip in October 2015, we returned for a second trip in September 2016 and shot for a month and a half. The combination of the two trips has given us compelling footage. We have spent four years in post production, piecing together an hour and thirty-eight minutes that we hope deeply impacts and educates our viewers. We hope we’ve crafted a project that not only illuminates the subject but compels the audience to join the fight. Our content exposes causes and conditions, complex realities, while offering effective solutions.
Susannah Barnes:
Producer
Hangover 2, Crazy, Stupid Love, Borat, The Fountain, Dreamcatcher, Mumford, Henson Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Gerber Pictures, Tarmac Films, Lawrence of America, Special ops mission, Burn notice (webisodes), now or never, Answerman, Gold Rush, Job Corps documentary Sundance channel broadcast, Jenny Craig campaign (2011-2013), chase-sapphire.
Landon Satterfield:
Editor & Story Consultant
Landon is a film editor, actor, writer, and motion graphics artist living in Los Angeles, California. He was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas and lived in Oklahoma for most of his life. From a very early age, Landon was intrigued by the film-making process and demonstrated that curiosity through art and illustration. Developing that creative muscle led him to a year of graphic design school and a three year media internship.
After working for eight years as an on-staff video and camera director, Landon moved to Los Angeles to expand that career, where he was brought on as the fine-cut editor for The New Abolitionists.
Landon was also the editor of the documentary feature al’ Amriki: The American, trailer editor for the feature Distant Tales, animator of the credit sequence for the short film Strangers in the Night (2021), and editor of the award winning short film The Uterus Chat.
Simon Daoudi:
Assistant Editor
Simon Daoudi grew up in France loving cinema, the first memory he can recall is watching Star Wars Episode IV The Empire Strikes Back when he was only 3 years old. As he matured he became a fan of the French new wave (La Nouvelle Vague) style of film making which attributes to some of his idols being Francois Truffaut, and Jean-Luc Godard.
Simon’s background in graphic design and video editing served him well in the early 2000’s as he help developed one of the biggest online communities for pop culture and comic books. As of recently he has completed working on a short documentary showing the struggle of undocumented students trying to improve their education: Silent Struggles (Seguimos Luchando), and worked as an assistant editor on The New Abolitionists Documentary.
Some of Simon’s biggest career thrills have been working with Luc Besson, a French film director, to help develop interactive activities for DVD’s and websites on several overseas projects. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and his little pug Yogi.
Laura Spaeth:
Writer
Laura is a writer and performer living in New York City. She is the author of the plays; Oh Christmas Tree – A Holiday Nightmare and The Ballad of Salvatore Salustio. The Ballad was a semi-finalist at The O’Neill Conference and a finalist at The Fulton Theatre’s New Play Contest. Her pilot, Welcome To Oakland, was a finalist at the New York Screenplay Writing Contest. An animal lover, Laura has had featured articles in Animal Wellness magazine. She graduated cum laude with BFA in Theatre and Communications from William Paterson University. Laura has worked extensively in film, television and commercials as an actor and voice over artist. Although The New Abolitionists is her first foray into the documentary world, Laura feels privileged to be a part of such an important and necessary film.
