Mike Yuen
Audio By Carbonatix
Each day or month is a new “national” day or month for something on social media, an excuse to flood our feeds with posts about insignificant holidays. While it’s all in good fun, the significance of an awareness day or month has become diluted among the national coffee and national margarita days. But these awareness dates can serve as reminders of essential causes. The independent film WAKE UP alerted audiences that January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month with a 10-city tour.
In her directing and writing debut, actress Janet Craig and producer Kristen Wise sounded the alarm on the prevalence of sex trafficking. The drama, based on true stories, is about an unsuspecting suburban community that’s rattled when it becomes the target for a sex trafficking ring.
The seven-year project premiered in Dallas on Jan. 7 at Alamo DraftHouse Cinema-Cedars, the third stop of the screening tour which was planned to correlate with National Human Trafficking Prevention Month to bring awareness in areas where trafficking is widespread.
“I want to wake up suburbia and say, ‘Look, your girls are on phones, and they’re meeting people and [there’s] technology as a way of grooming and also kids in foster care are being exploited more than any other,'” says Craig, who also stars in the film aside from directing and writing it. “We wanted to show that it’s not really about good versus evil, but about people capable of both, and I wanted to show all types of people that are involved in [sex trafficking].”
As a foster mom in real life, Wise leaned on her lived experiences. She and her husband, WAKE UP co-producer Mike Wise, have fostered more than 100 children. In the film, Craig plays a foster mom whose daughter and friend are lured into a sex trafficking ring after accidentally being introduced to a trafficker by their friend, a group home worker and former foster child.
According to the WAKE UP press release: “In the U.S., the FBI estimates that more than 100,000 children and teens are victims of sex trafficking and it’s estimated that 60% of victims have been within foster care or the child welfare system.”
The film, which was the 2021 Sunscreen Film Festival Best Picture winner, displays the harsh reality that sex trafficking does not discriminate based on socioeconomic status, race or gender.
“Janet and I live in the same town, Thousand Oaks, California, which is the second safest city in the United States, and I was at an exercise class telling some ladies about what we were doing, and they’re like, ‘That doesn’t happen here, that happens in India,'” Wide says. “And while it does happen in India, but it happens in every neighborhood of the United States. We want to be able to wake people up to that. We also want people to wake up to [help]. Not everyone’s going to be a filmmaker, not everyone’s going to be a foster mom, but we can do something to help.”
Dallas actor Matt Socia, most known for his 2014 role in Taken For Ransom, plays an affluent gynecologist whose pornography addiction entangles him into the dark world of trafficking. Socia’s role as Bob serves as an example of the avenues that create supply and demand in human trafficking.
“Sex trafficking could happen to every kid, it could happen to every person in every neighborhood, and also that people don’t think anything of watching pornography,” Craig says. “[Through Bob] we wanted to show that it’s not innocent when people do that, that the girls that they’re watching are mostly trafficked there … We want to just have them wake up to how they might be inadvertently participating in trafficking.
“We wanted to show that it’s not really about good versus evil, but about people capable of both and I wanted to show all types of people that are involved in [sex trafficking].” -Janet Craig. writer, director and star of WAKE UP
“I want people to also have grace for others, because I feel like a lot of times people hide when they’re doing things that are wrong because they don’t feel like they can go to anyone because there’s no safe place.”
Some young girls are lured into trafficking through the ruse of modeling agencies, something that’s depicted in the film and prevalent in Dallas. Last year, an adult and a 14-year-old teen who was forced into trafficking under the guise of a modeling opportunity were rescued from sex trafficking in a Dallas hotel.
Craig and Thomas hope to get the movie shown in schools and colleges to reach the most vulnerable population. They intentionally kept the film PG-13 to allow for it to reach as many young people as possible.
“Our goal was to be PG-13 and what we really hope to do is get this in high schools and colleges,” Craig says. “That’s a great age to reach, so we are just hoping to reach those kids and reach them before something happens to them.”
“We didn’t want to exploit anyone in a movie that’s against exploitation, so we had no nudity,” Wise says. “We wanted to keep it realistic, but something that you can bring your child to, and often the imagination is worse.”
According to the DART anti-human trafficking coalition, Texas is the second largest hub for sex trafficking in the country and Dallas is one of the top 10 cities nationwide with the most sex trafficking.
The Dallas screening for the film included a panel of activists and local organizations who spoke to viewers about how to join the fight against human trafficking. Podcaster and speaker Rebecca Bender, Jesus Said Love, Christian Alliance for Orphans and Rachel C. Thomas were among those on the panel steering the audience to take action.
Thomas, who is featured in the closing of the film, is a victim of human trafficking. In the closing remarks she makes a call to action and advises the audience to text “WAKEUP” to 51555 for further information on human trafficking and how to get involved. Craig and Wise advise those interested in joining the fight to visit their website to find organizations dedicated to human trafficking advocacy.
