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Ric Bienstock Presents Her Award-Winning Documentary On New Film Probes Sex Trafficking Underworld They May Be on Candid Camera But No One Wants Them to Smile of several women whose lives are n 2000, Toronto filmmaker turned upside down after being Ric Beinstock was scouting sold into sex slavery by people out crew accommodations they trust. No Hollywood produc- in a remote Chinese village tion studio could have come close when she stumbled upon a to replicating the raw dialogue new, upscale-looking hotel. and commentary of this real-life “It was very incongruous for I cast, let alone the mind-blowing that area of China,” Bienstock re- premise of women being bought calls. Even though it seemed like and sold as an everyday affair. a mirage in the desert, she booked In the film, Bienstock deftly several rooms for her upcoming intertwines undercover surveil- television shoot, never realizing lance of pimping transactions with that the hotel was really a brothel. one-on-one interviews of women Shortly after the crew checked in, Ric Esther Bienstock recounting their ordeals. their phones began to ring repeat- to provide sex in that hotel. In one segment, a Ukrainian edly. When the filmmaker offered man named Viorel learns that his “Massage? Massage?” some- to call the police, the women said friend Vlad has sold his wife to one on the other end asked in a that the police were among their one of Istanbul’s most notorious meek voice. regular patrons. There was noth- crime figures, a pimp named Apo. Bienstock was producing a ing to be done. The crew accompanies Viorel on a Penn and Teller special that would “I couldn’t get their stories trip to Turkey to try and buy back be airing on the Learning Channel, out of my head,” says Bienstock. his spouse. so no one she knew was there for After leaving the women behind Remarkably, just two floors the “massage”. and completing the Penn and beneath the office where Viorel Later, in the basement of the Teller shoot, she delved back into is filing his crime report (in the hotel they discovered a disco- the world of global sex trafficking. Port of Odessa), the filmmakers thèque, “very kind of camp and She and co-producers Golubev track Pasha, a pudgy working- tacky”, she said during a recent and Simcha Jacobovici decided class woman who’s transporting telephone interview from her to make a documentary on the five women to Istanbul to sell to office in Canada. A large contin- subject by going undercover and another pimp. gent of Chinese women and two filming the criminal enterprise as Pasha has a long history of blonde Russian girls stood at the it was playing out at that moment placing fake ads for girls seeking ready for any interested guests. along the Mediterranean. overseas jobs, then handing them As Bienstock and her crew Their company, Associated over to pimps for $500 apiece. were the only other Caucasians for Producers, first had to get the fi- Following on a tip from the Ukrai- miles around, the Russians attract- nancial backing. They approached nian secret service, Bienstock’s ed their curiosity. So she invited the Canadian Broadcasting Cor- cameras are there when Pasha them up to her room. poration, as well as a British hands over her human cache to Neither of the prostitutes television channel and PBS in the brothel owners in a parking lot in spoke English. Co-producer Felix United States. All agreed to air the the Russian District of Istanbul. Golubev, however, spoke fluent program. In another segment, Tania, Russian, and what the women told With that backing and a grant whose job abroad as a nanny turns them made Bienstock’s head spin. from a nonprofit film fund, the out to be a horrific nightmare of Both had been beaten, raped, traf- team packed their cameras and enslavement, is just arriving home ficked across the border from their headed for Odessa, Ukraine. for the first time since she was nearby Russian village and forced Sex Slaves is the poignant story continued I was very busy. I had 50, 60 far beyond the pale of a two-han- customers. Everyone wanted kie, violin concerto. to try the new girl.” After finishing the shoot, Deborah Finding, a Brit- Bienstock says she took all her ish social service provider undercover material to the Ukrai- with flaming red hair, tries nian and Turkish authorities. Yet to account for why so many neither country was interested in women are getting sucked pursuing charges. At last check, into trafficking schemes these Pasha was still placing fake ads days. and selling women. Apo, the “Even if there’s some notorious pimp, was still run- needling doubt at the back of ning his brothels. Vlad, the friend their minds that this might who sold Viorel’s wife for $1,000, not be the perfect job oppor- did get arrested, but received five tunity, that there’s something years probation. a little dodgy about it, they’re In January Bienstock spoke at going to desperately want to the Omni Hotel in an appearance believe that everything’s go- sponsored by the San Francisco- ing to be OK,” she explains. based International Museum of “So they’re going to be far Women as part of their “Extraor- more likely to just take that dinary Voices, Extraordinary risk and to go, because what Change” series. Copyright 2006 Associated Producers could be worse than the Her previous credits include DVD cover of the new documentary, life they’re having at the minute. Impact of Terror, about a suicide kidnapped several months earlier. And of course, there is something bombing in Israel, The Money Shot, The sheer joy on the face of her 10- worse.” which examines the pornography year-old daughter speaks volumes In the Ukraine, the film- industry, and Ms. Conceptions, on the impact of a crime that may maker also sits down with family about single mothers by choice. soon eclipse gun-running and members to hear their reaction to Sex Slaves has received the British drug dealing in terms of profits. having a loved one kidnapped. Broadcast Award for best docu- Although Bienstock travels Viorel’s mother-in-law, for in- mentary in 2006, and also a Gracie thousands of miles to log the sex stance, has been enlisted to watch Award from the New York based trafficking phenomenon abroad, the couple’s son. Women in Film and Television As- it turns out there are trafficking “Here I am with a 5-year-old, sociation. schemes afoot in her own native and I’m 60,” the woman com- Bienstock recently finished Toronto. We meet a victim who plains. “I told him she went to work on a new documenatary was brought into the country on work. What else can I tell him to air on the History Channel an “exotic dancer visa” issued by – that his mother was sold? Imag- this March. It dabbles in biblical the Canadian government. ine…” intrigue and is DaVinci Codesque, In London, Bienstock inter- Fortunately, there’s a happy she says, but wouldn’t reveal any views a girl who has been sold six ending to Viorel’s plight. His wife other details. times and shuttled around Europe Tatiya returns home. A resilient like a badminton cock. soul, her sage commentary about Copyright 2007 “They smuggled me into what’s happened to her and the The City Edition of San Francisco England in the back of a lorry” many other young women who www.thecityedition.com this victim explains. “I was put have been trafficked lifts Sex Slaves in a box in the back. The box was filled with veal. I could barely breathe.” After the eight-hour ride, her stiff frame was lowered into the spa of the massage parlor where she started working the next day. “First week I came to London, imow.org.
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