Mark Krupa is a avid fisherman, photographer and professional actor.

“Human Trafficking is the business of the future.” The words of Immigration and Custom’s Enforcement (ICE) agent Bill Meehan, played by Donald Sutherland, resonate in this new and riveting TV mini-series shows the face of modern slavery without pulling punches… Whereas an ounce of cocaine can be sold only once, a woman or a child can be sold over and over again. It is estimated that between 800 000 people are trafficked annually across international borders and up to four million are trafficked within their own country. 80% are women and children.

This 10 billion dollar a year industry includes the trafficking of work slaves in factories, restaurants, on farms, as maids, nannies, or domestic workers; but most often it involves sex slavery. Whether abducted, sold by their family, or lured across the border by fake modeling agencies and mail-order bride services, sex trafficking remains the most ruthless, leaving most children scarred for life, infected with HIV or simply - dead.

Though in some cases the johns are unaware that they soliciting slaves, in the majority of cases – they do. Across the global village, the poor are trafficked to the rich, with the largest number of victims coming from South and Southeast Asia. Eastern Europe, namely Russia, the Ukraine and the former Soviet states have proved to be a lucrative emerging market for traffickers with Latin America, Africa, and the Caribbean following not far behind. Mira Sorvino has joined Amnesty International to speak out against trafficking and her mini-series character - Kate Morozov - sums it up best with: “Modern slavery exists only because we choose to ignore it”.

In 1998, President Clinton established a U.S. strategy to combat human trafficking, which led to the 2000 Violence Protection Act and the annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. Despite president Bush’s increased funding and the Protect Act, (making it illegal for Americans to travel abroad in order to have illicit sex with a minor) it is clear that there is much room for improvement.

The series is produced by Robert Halmi and Montreal based MUSE Entertainment for the Lifetime network, which is one of the select few North American channels willing to air edgy, poignant television in our Brave New World of pseudo-reality shows. The teleplay maintains an authentic intensity throughout and Christian Duguay (Director, DOP, and main cinematographer), despite a scene-heavy script with three interwoven plot-lines, gives the audience an epic feature film quality. The mini-series was shot mainly in Montreal, Prague, and Thailand. While shooting downtown, on the corner of St-Catherine and St-Laurent, the crew was constantly reminded of how art imitates life, as the characters that drifted round the real strip clubs and hotel room sets often mirrored the unsavory faces in the script.

The lead cast, including Robert Carlyle as the trafficking ringleader and many known Quebec names such as Rémy Girard, Céline Bonnier, and a stellar Isabelle Blais, gave strong performances. Yet it is perhaps the young Montreal actresses playing the victims who will most affect the audience. One of the three main victims of the mini-series is Nadia, played by Laurence Leboeuf. A sixteen-year-old aspiring ballet dancer from Kiev, Nadia dreams of a better life in the West—much to the dismay of her conservative father, Victor, played by Girard. When she is seduced by the promises of a modeling agency, she runs away from home toward her dream, and disappears. She is dragged through a realm of unspeakable horror.

She says she did not prepare for her role: “ Even if I had researched for weeks I would not come close to knowing what those enslaved girls are living through,” she says. “My character is so innocent. Everything that happens to her is a bad surprise. It was better for me to know nothing so that when the terrible things start happening, Nadia is truly bewildered and terrified.”

Many scenes were very difficult, she admits, “but knowing that this savagery actually happens was the worst part. I was supported by an amazing crew, director and actors so that made the troubling scenes better … but it was still hard. I was exhausted by the end of each shooting day because I had to give so much to this role. But it was so rewarding because I had never done anything as dramatic!”

To find out more about human trafficking and to view the trailer of the mini-series, which premieres on Lifetime, October 24 th - 25 th, at 9 pm; one can visit:

www.lifetimetv.com/movies/originals/humantrafficking.html

The series will also air On CITY TV on January 4 th-5 th and on TQS in March. Another informative site is:

www.amnestyusa.org/stopviolence/trafficking/index.html