Sands of Silence

Project Director: Chelo Alvarez-Stehle

In the documentary Sands of Silence, we learn some gruesome facts: there are 27 million slaves in the world today; and human trafficking is a global business that yields $9 billion annually. Every year in the United States, 18,000 women and children are trafficked and turned into sex slaves. Rooted on the filmmaker's own experience of seeing her sister being taken away as a child, Sands of Silence juxtaposes the tragedy of human trafficking in California's Latino community with stories of resilience and fortitude, exploring the hearts of women who have been subjected to the most hideous degradations, yet have recovered their dignity and are today an inspiration in the fight for a world without slavery. This documentary film is an intimate, poetic portrait that explores the universality of gender violence and suggests that breaking the silence is the first step to put an end to it. At the Institute, Award-winning producer Chelo Alvarez-Stehle and her team developed SOS SLAVES, a unique, avatar-based flash video game to raise awareness about global human trafficking from a broad geographical perspective. In a dynamic, illustrated and participatory environment, players learn how to avoid being sold and exploited, and how to identify a captive person, call a hotline, alert authorities, and get involved in the issues on the ground in their own communities.