LunaFest with Soroptimist

Last night was a great event in Hermosa Beach hosted by the Soroptimit.  Along with the LUNAFEST films (which were all great films and very thought provoking) they screened a 14 min version of FLESH the moive along with a Q&A afterwards.  The audience engaged us with important and sometime difficult questions - which I always enjoy.  

Thanks to all the efforts of Monica Frey and her team the event was a great success and we were able to raise the level of awareness about Human Trafficking here in the U.S. 

Update on Friday, April 6, 2012 at 9:49AM by Flesh

• By Anne Louise Bannon Email the author April 5, 2012

LUNAFEST, a festival of short films by, for and about women, is making its annual stop at the Hermosa Beach Community Center tonight with eight short films from around the world.

The festival is sponsored by Luna Bars and hosted by different charitable groups around the country. Soroptimist International of Manhattan Beach has hosted the local festival for six years now.

"One of the members stumbled onto this festival," said Monica Frey, the club member in charge of the festival.

She explained that since the Soroptimist mission is to raise funds and awareness of women's issues, the festival fit in neatly with the group's goals.

This year, in addition to the films chosen by the LUNAFEST committee, a 14-minute version of Flesh: Bought and Sold in the U.S. will be shown with a question and answer session with the film's writer/producer Christina Lee Storm, of Redondo Beach, and the director Kristin Ross Lauterbach.

The film, which covers the issue of sex trafficking in the United States. Trafficking, Storm explained, is different than prostitution in that it involves coercion and usually underage girls.

Storm was drawn to the issue of trafficking during a visit to India. She decided she wanted to make a documentary film about it, but didn't quite know how to go about it.

"I come from the world of feature film," she said.

Undeterred, she and Lauterbach eventually got together and put together a proposal for Women Make Movies, a group that funds such small films.

Frey said that they pared the 90-minute movie down to 14 minutes to give the audiences the flavor of the film and to bring awareness to the issue.

"They don't think that it's happening here," Storm said about trafficking, and that it's tough for Americans to get their heads around the idea that minors are being coerced into prostitution.

Frey said that they wanted the film for just that reason. The festival will raise money for the Soroptimist Club, even though 15 percent of the money raised will go directly to Luna Bar's charity, The Breast Cancer Fund.

The festival begins at 5:30 p.m. tonight at the Hermosa Beach Community Center, 710 Pier Avenue, Hermosa Beach. Tickets can be purchased at the LUNAFEST site, lunafest.org.

FLESH THE MOVIE in the Beach Cities

Just a quick shout out to the The Beach Reporter for their story about LUNAFEST and FLESH screening in the Beach Cities.  Here is the article about LUNAFEST, we will be screening the 14 minute version of FLESH the documentary Thrusday night at 6 pm.  

LUNAFEST 2012 in Hermosa Beach April 5th

LUNAFEST®, the fundraising film festival dedicated to promoting awareness about women’s issues will be hosted by Soroptimist International Manhattan Beach in South Bay on Thursday, April 5, 2012.

LUNAFEST is a national traveling festival of award winning short films by, for, and about women. LUNAFEST’s films have won industry awards and audience accolades. The films range from animation to fictional drama, and cover topics such as women’s health, motherhood, body image, aging cultural diversity and breaking barriers.

In addition to this year’s featured LUNAFEST films, Soroptimist International Manhattan Beach will also show a special 14 minute screening of the film, “Flesh Bought and Sold in the U.S.”, an important documentary about sex trafficking, which will be followed by a Q&A with writer, producer and director, Kristin Ross Lauterbach and producer and writer Christina Lee Storm.

Formed in 1953, Soroptimist International Manhattan Beach is a group of

professional women that work to improve the lives of women and girls in local communities and around the world. Proceeds from LUNAFEST benefit Soroptimist International Manhattan Beach and the projects it supports including The Breast Cancer Fund. To date, LUNAFEST, which is created and funded by LUNAÒ, The Whole Nutrition Bar for WomenÒ raised more than $456,000 for Breast Cancer Fund and more than $785,000 for other women’s non-profit organizations.

LUNAFEST 2012 will take place at the Hermosa Beach Community Theatre: 710 Pier Ave., Hermosa Beach, CA  90254. Tickets are available for pre-sale now at http://www.lunafest.org/hermosabeach.

For more information please visit http://www.lunafest.org/hermosabeach or             http://simanhattanbeach.org/

Saving Innocence Launch at Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica

Last night was great event put on by Saving Innocence and organization dedicated to ending human trafficking and the protection of young girls.  Kim Biddle the founder rallied the crowd with her passion and courage.

Left: Lyda Yik, Kristin R. Lauterbach 

Below: LAPD Detective Harris, Kristin R. Lauterbach

Screening in Detroit October 15 & 16

If you are in the Detroit area, come see us Friday, October 15 or Saturday, October 16!  We have created a 12 min version of the film to screen at various art show and film festivals.  

Voxtropolis screening information