From Goldengate Xpress
When design and industry student Caroline Nguyen heard about a human trafficking raid in her hometown of Westminster, Orange County, she knew she had to take action. Now the SF State sophomore is making a documentary about the dangers of the industry to keep potential victims—from small towns to large countries—safe from harm.
Caroline Nguyen (Goldengate Xpress)
Design and Industry student Caroline Nguyen started filming her documentary “Not In My Neighborhood” this week with the help of mentor Cynthia Biret. Tuesday, Aug 23, 2014. Photo by Sara Gobets.
Nguyen, a member of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America, said it was the organization’s ‘gold award,’ which required her to take on a project that would impact her community, that first piqued her interest in the human trafficking trade. She began researching and when she came across a newspaper article about the raid that occurred down the street from her house she instantly knew she had to get the message out to others.
“These (human trafficking occurrences) are in areas like schools, massage parlors, nail parlors, movie theaters; places where kids are all the time,” Nguyen said. “It was crazy and so I wanted to expose this issue not only globally, but also locally.”
In conjunction with her Girl Scout award presentation, Nguyen had also been entered for another award called the TEDx Orange Coast Teen Challenge Award. She later found out she was one of the top three winners of this award by seeing the announcement in her email’s spam folder.
Nguyen felt excited that her fight for this awareness had been noticed and she was later able to present her project in front of 2,000 people, including the mayor, in Westminster. She knew then, since having an interest in marketing, that she could turn her presentation into something bigger. A documentary was just the thing to reach more audiences outside her small town and into larger cities.
Along with being a winner of the contest, Nguyen received a scholarship and two mentors to help with her film, filmmaker Cynthia Biret and TEDx Teen Challenge mentor Philip Topham.
Nguyen is beginning to film her documentary this week, during her 19th birthday, and said the process so far has gone smoothly in her role as producer. Biret added that the film will not be your typical public service announcement.
“Editorially, we will progressively reveal the victims’ day to day lives, and see “clients” looking for young girls for sexual purposes,” Biret said, adding that the film will not show any nudity.
Nguyen said she has enjoyed being able to tell others about why her passion for the film is so important to her. She also said it’s been difficult at times trying to get her film shown, such as when she tried to have a viewing at the high school in her hometown, because parents or school officials found the material inappropriate or too sensitive.
Read the full article HERE.
