Blurring Nollywood and Documentary : Human Trafficking from Nigeria to Europe

<p><strong>Support the creation of the first Nollywood-documentary on Human Trafficking of Nigerian girls to Europe for sexual exploitation.</strong></p> <p>All they know is they are coming to make money and send back home to take care of their families, build them houses, pay school fees and make them live luxurious lifestles. Even when they already know will be engaged in sex work. But what nobody ever tells them is that they will exploit you, rape you, use your body to make money for themselves till you pay 30 THOUSAND EUROS, 40 THOUSAND EUROS, 50 THOUSAND EUROS or even 60 THOUSAND EUROS! No one will be there to help when they are violating, abusing or killing you. You die mentally. You will die spiritually. Before you die physically because of you owe in your hand, a DEBT OF DEATH...</p> <p>It is based on this social catastrophe, inhuman and criminal modern day slavery that it is important that we, some Nigeria filmmakers in Europe, capture the tragedy of sex trafficking between Nigeria and Belgium. We want to lend a very loud voice to this fight against luring vulnerable poor women, sometimes UNDERAGED of less than SIXTEEN years, traveling through the hell of the Sahara desert, atimes kidnapped, mostly raped, risk the possibilities of drowning across the open deep mediterranen sea before facing the realities of evil that await them when, and if, they make it to Europe alive. While in Europe they face the most difficult emotional and mental abuse and forced to make money, at all costs! They are beaten by pimps and abusive clients. Sometimes stabbed severally like the case of the Nigerian girl, Eunice, another vicitim of trafficking that was buried in May, 2018!</p> <p><strong>Since NOLLYWOOD has become very popular in the lives of Nigerians, how can this medium become a useful Tool in Fighting International Sex Trafficking between Nigeria and Europe?</strong></p> <p>Owing to the early 1990&rsquo;s downturn of the Nigeria economy and other social reasons, many Nigerian women fled their West-African country to Europe. Lots of these women went to work in the sex industry. The initial destination was Italy, but soon the trail moved on to cities in Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and other countries. They are by far the largest national group of African sex workers in Europe, although it is impossible to know exactly how many women are involved in this business, considering the fact that they essentially live undocumented lives. They are afraid to speak out and talking to the police is impossible because they do not want to be deported as their madams and sponsors warn them, also for the fact they had taken a scary voodoo oath to be loyal and complete every cent of the up to 65,000 Euros that they owe in DEBT!</p> <p>TEAM</p> <p><strong>Azubuike Erinugha - director/producer</strong></p> <p><strong>Aka Zubi,&nbsp;a reknowned Nollywood film director, explores the boundaries of documentary and Nollywood conventions to convey a message to Nigerian girls back home. Interviews with stakeholders and victims are intertwined in a powerful reality based tale of a migration stories gone wrong.</strong></p> <p><img alt="" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/562577/Zubi_Collage-1546206059-1546563474.jpg" width="100%" /></p> <p>Chris Ofili - Associate Producer</p> <p><img alt="" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/572331/DOC-20190219-WA0001-1550676375.jpg" width="100%" /></p> <p>Heidi Rettmeyer &ndash; assistant director</p> <p>Heidi has a versatile film production experience of more then twenty-five years. Heidi is the assistant director of the film as well as the leader of the Brussels production team. Heidi is in charge of the production supervision, editing and art direction.</p> <p><img alt="" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/562578/Heidi_Collage-1546206073-1546563609.jpg" width="100%" /></p> <p>Axel Berhaut-streel &ndash; director of photography</p> <p>Axel is the originally trained as a film processor having worked in film laboratories, lighting and cinematography. Axel gained most of his experience for putting in several years behind the camera for very successful documentary films.</p> <p><img alt="" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/562579/Axel_Collage-1546206093-1546563625.jpg" width="100%" /></p> <p>Eddy Mun &ndash; second director of photography</p> <p>With his documentary film, &ldquo;Uncertain Future&rdquo;, Eddy Mun is the current best documentary award winner in the biggest film award in Africa, the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA 2018). Eddy is a first class cinematographer, sound recordist and editor.</p> <p><img alt="" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/562039/Eddy_Collage-1546206108.jpg" width="100%" /></p> <p>Sophie Samyn - Project Manager</p> <p>Last year, Sophie traveled from Belgium to Nigeria, after living in Italy for a while, to conduct first hand interviews for her full research: &quot;Indentured Sex Work Migration From Edo State to Europe.&quot; Sophie is the project manager of our team.</p>