Answering the 'Call'
First-time filmmaker does his best to highlight the evils of modern slavery
By Nyrie Chaparian 11/20/2008
More than 27 million people are enslaved around the world—more than ever before in history — and 200,000 of them live in the United States.
Last year, slave traders made more money than Starbucks, Nike and Google combined.
These cold, hard facts are difficult to comprehend, but they are the basis for “Call+Response,” a documentary by musician, house-painter and first-time filmmaker Justin Dillon that is currently showing at the Laemmle Playhouse 7 in Pasadena.
The film is not your typical Hollywood production. Dillon funded the entire picture through donations, and had no budget for traditional advertising and promotion.
“Call+Response” is structurally unusual as well, splicing footage of and interviews about human trafficking and forced labor — be it in sweatshops, fields or brothels — with performances by popular musicians, including Moby, Cold War Kids, Matisyahu (who performs Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song”), Imogen Heap, Five for Fighting and 26-year-old British pop singer-songwriter Natasha Bedingfied, an advocate for Stop the Traffik, an international group fighting human trafficking.
The connection between these two seemingly disparate subjects is American academic Cornell West’s assertion about the connection between slavery and music in the pre-Civil War American South — that it was the only thing slaves could really call their own.
Dillon’s passion about the issue comes from personal experience. While on tour as a musician in Russia, his teenage translator told him about an offer she had to travel to the States for a job. After a little research by a skeptical Dillon, he concluded the too-good-too-be-true offer was, in fact, a scam to enslave her.
When Dillon returned to the States, he organized concerts to benefit the anti-slavery cause, filmed them and then decided to package them together to get his message out.
“I’d never made a film before, so everything was a learning experience for me,” he said of a process that involved interviews for the film with the likes of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, journalist Nicholas Kristoff and actresses Ashley Judd and Daryl Hannah.
Ticket proceeds go to charity. The film’s Web site, callandresponse.com, provides information about how viewers can help.
“I hope [audience members] walk away inspired to do something about it. The reality is, this is an issue that we can affect,” said Dillon. “I don’t believe in awareness; I don’t believe that’s activist. We want activism.”
Laemmle’s Playhouse 7 is at 673 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. Call (626) 844-6500 or visit laemmle.com.
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