Lucy Liu covers important ground

I find it interesting that sometimes the most important issues are virtually ignored, until a celebrity puts their face to an issue. The major news media just doesn't care and ignores the issue, until they get a chance to grab ratings.

Such is the case with the growing problem of child sex slaves across the globe. It's an issue that the major media just doesn't want to talk about. As if they think the problem will go away if we don't talk about it. But Lucy Liu is among a growing number of Americans talking about this issue and trying to get something done.

Lucy Liu has produced a film, Red Light, that details how young women are bought as sex slaves in Cambodia. The film addresses what is the 3rd most profitable business, beaten only by drug trafficing and weapons sales. It's a dubious list to be on top of, and I cannot see how anyone would be against such a cause (except those that are buying the sex slaves).

This is also not a new subject for me to cover. Long-time readers of my blog likely recall that this April I interviewed Abigail Disney at the Tribeca Film Festival where she was showing the film Playground. That film also detailed the child sex slave industry and tracked it not just in Cambodia, but right here in America. Yes, Americans are involved in this as much as other countries considered far more seedy.

My video interview with Abigail wasn't as long as I had hoped (there was another film she produced - Pray the Devil Back to Hell that we spoke a great deal about in the video) on this issue [Discussion of Playground and the child sex trade starts at 3:45 in the video]



, but I did follow up with an email continuation on the subject found here - Producer Abigail Disney discusses the independant film Playground

Like Liu, Disney too found that Cambodia is on the worst end of the scale when it comes to child sex trafficing

"Abigail Disney : The government of Costa Rica has made admirable progress in confronting not only the sex-tourism trade, but also the corruption that so often goes with it. Cambodia is notably at the opposite end of the spectrum, and the numbers of girls getting sucked into the sex trade there and the ferocity of the people protecting that business are overwhelming. "

I'm glad that this subject is getting more attention. It deserves to be an issue that the world acts to end. This is a deplorable situation that should not exist in the 21 century.

Perhaps when more celebrities like Lucy Liu join up with activiists and independant filmmakes like Abigail Disney, the major news media will get off its ass and help put pressure on contries like Cambodia. Until then I recommend that readers watch both films and learn more about this and how to help the U.N. end this horrible business.

Abigail Disney interviewed at the Tribeca Film Festival

The last interview I had at the Tribeca Film Festival was with producer Abigail Disney. She had 2 films at this years festival - Playground and Pray The Devil Back To Hell - both documentaries.

Both of these films are powerful stories on subject that Hollywood and the major media just won't touch. Which is a shame as what is being shown to the audience is important and affects millions of lives. Let me clarify what I mean.

Pray The Devil Back To Hell is the story of the women of Liberia (Chrisitians and Muslims) that joined together to create peace in their war-torn land. This was not political, or religious. It was exactly what Dr. Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi did. And it worked. In fact it is being used as a template (for those women that have seen the film) to bring peace to other regions of the world.

Playground is another documentary based in solid fact. It covers the child sex trade from overseas to the U.S. and back again. It details how over 300,000 U.S. children, and perhaps countless others in the world are in danger from this growin issue. It is a call for attention to a subject that the U.S. media is either to squeamish or uncaring to cover.

Both documentaries are movies that need to be seen. They deserve coverage. And they are the only means currently for anyone to know what has happened. Because CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and all the other news media are ignoring the subjects.

But enough of what I think of the subject, here is Abigail Disney in her own words.





Don't forget about the International Day of Peace.

Also, I want to apologize to Abigail for not covering enough of Playground in this interview. I will be following up with her to get the rest of that interview soon.