Interview with Abolitionist Filmmaker Michael Cory Davis

Recently, I had the chance to chat with Michael Cory Davis, a writer, director, actor, filmmaker whose passionate films about human trafficking are inspiring activists around the world. Michael is the man behind Svetlanta's Journey and Cargo: Innocence Lost, as well as other films, public service announcements, and shorts.

What got you started as a filmmaker, and then what inspired you to focus your films on human trafficking?

I actually had no intentions on being a filmmaker at the time when I first learned about human trafficking. In 2003, I was focused on my acting career and was shooting in Bulgaria. I saw obvious signs of prostitution around the hotels and noticed that the girls were very young. During my shoot I attended a fundraiser that a local organization, Face to Face, was hosting about sex trafficking. I was horrified when I learned the gory details of the inner-workings of trafficking and also was quite pissed off that traffickers used ploys involving the entertainment industry, such as luring girls in with dreams of being models and actresses. It was after hearing these devastating stories of abuse, trauma, violence, and rape that I felt compelled to do something.

Both of your longer films, Svetlana's Journey and Cargo: Innocence Lost focus on forced prostitution and sex trafficking. Why did you choose to focus on these topics?

These topics have chosen me. I am not one of the people out there that like to sensationalize these aspects of human trafficking. In fact whenever I am doing a speaking engagement I tend to focus a lot of my time on labor trafficking because it is so over-looked but equally as pernicious.

In your documentary, Cargo: Innocence Lost, there are some very graphic re-enactments of rape scenes that were hard for me to watch. How were you able to film them with such raw detail, knowing that they're based on true events?

I chose to shoot the simulated rape scene so graphic and raw in nature because with screening Svetlana's Journey a year and a half before, I was faced with the same question repeatedly, "Why didn't she just run away?" I realized that maybe Svetlana's Journey, as provocative and frightening as it is, was too soft for an American audience already used to violence and sexuality on television. I figured I needed to really "show" people what violence and control is through rape. Traffickers use rape as a means for establishing power and it works almost instantly.

I remember when shooting this scene my actress who had never done a rape scene before felt that it would be a cinch, by the time it was done, I had to clear the set for 20 minutes. She sat huddled in a corner crying with her knees to her chin. She looked me and said "If that is what this trafficking thing is, and that's what these girls go through over and over, who am I to stop now?"

You've also created several public awareness commercials, including a really clever one that spoofs an awards show, but is aimed at human traffickers. Can you talk about how and why you created that commercial?

The four that I created, with Awards Show being my favorite, were to mock the sensationalizing of "celebrity" in our country and how we turn a blind eye in society to what traffickers are doing whereby enabling them to make billions off of innocent people's backs. So in essence, they laugh at us with each adult or child they sell and exploit. I love watching people's reactions when they see "Awards Show" because at first blush they want to laugh, but it's uncomfortable, so I have to play it again for them to kind of get the fact it's a spoof.

How can people who care about the issue of human trafficking use their artistic skills and passions to create attention and action?

I didn't have a set plan to become a public speaker, or use my gifts to make films on human trafficking. But because I allowed the inspiration to take me wherever it did without fear, my art has now been disseminated around the world, and people use it in ways I couldn't even imagine. If you're an artist you have to stop judging your work and understand that it is a gift, not to be locked up, but to be released into the world. That's what I hope I can create with my non-profit organization Artists United For Social Justice, The goal for it is to be a place where artists and activists can create material that can be used to empower, enlighten, and educate.

What's the main message you hope people get from watching your work?

I want artists to understand that we have the ability to talk to billions of people through our work so we must be open to do more than just entertain. We have to find ways to empower, enlighten, and educate with our work. I also want people to be reminded that we don't live in an Utopian society and the only way to get there is through collective team work, honest dialogue, and making human rights our number one global priority.

For more information or to see Michael Cory Davis's films, visit this website.