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Street Dreams

Red Earth Films,
2012, Rated M
Reviewed by Mardi Lumsden.

STREET Dreams is a documentary that has been made with love, sweat and tears.

It follows the work of organisations F.O.C.U.S. and Destiny Rescue in their bid to release young women (particularly girls under 18) who have been victims of human trafficking for the sex trade in South-East Asia.

There were many powerful messages in this film.

As Remember Seven singer Katie Wallis said in the film, the issue of human trafficking will not be stopped by one person, or one documentary; it will take an army.

And that is what this documentary may just create.

Street Dreams follows filmmakers Jason Bray and Mike Crowhurst into the dark reality of the second-largest illegal industry in the world.

What shocked me most was not only that Australians frequent bars in Thailand and Indonesia (where prostitution is illegal) and take pleasure in the trafficking of women and girls, but that Australians sometimes own these businesses.

To hear from women who have been trafficked and now help rehabilitate women coming out of the industry was a heartwarming and heart-breaking experience.

The aim of this film is to inspire people to act, to speak out, and to seek out their own way to make a difference.

This is why it was my privilege to donate the use of a song in the film and why other songwriters did the same.

Go and see this film – but be ready for the change it will inspire.

For more information and screening locations, visit www.street-dreams.com.au.