UW Women's Center and Asha Seattle presents the film "The Day My God Died"

India/Nepal/USA/2003/70 min

Director: Andrew Levine
Producers: Geralyn Dreyfous, Andrew Levine, Winona Ryder
Screenwriter: Cari Beauchamp
Director of Photography: Basil Katsaounis
Editor: Tamera Martin
Sound Editor: Kevin Church
Music: David Robbins
Narrated By: Winona Ryder & Tim Robbins

The traumatic experience of young Nepali and Indian kids abducted and subsequently sold into the “lucrative” child-sex trade is documented in "The Day My God Died." Director Andrew Levine, armed with a spy camera mounted on his eyeglasses (courtesy Peter Gabriel and his witness.org foundation), enters the brothels of Bombay (“The Cages”) to capture the grimy underworld of the underage sex trade. This feature-length documentary explores the prevalent child sex trade through the lives of its victims, their stories of lost hopes and dreams. The documentary retraces the experiences of five young girls who have escaped from what has become the fastest growing black market in the world, while simultaneously exploring the issues that these young girls face as they prepare to die of AIDS. The footage of the film is supported by feedback of girls who have escaped from the brothels and interviews with the heroes of the movement who strive to abolish the trade -- from the nonprofit organizations that rescue and care for victims, to former sex slaves who have emerged out of the slavery to regain control of their lives. Originally inspired by the work of the late American journalist Robert I. Friedman, this film documents the work of abolitionists, namely, Sanlaap and Maiti Nepal. Anuradha Koirala, popularly known as the "The Mother Teresa of Nepal," rescues these hapless women from the brothels and shelters them in her refuge in Nepal.

This film is disturbing and painful, but leaves us off with a sense of awareness and hope. Winona Ryder reads stark poetry written by the girls while David Robbins scores the film with much sensitivity.