TRADE OF INNOCENTS ... A WAR THAT CANNOT BE WON?

The movie Trade of Innocents, which depicts the darker side of human trafficking, premiered in Bakersfield this weekend. Yesterdays Friday night showing was the opening of a larger Trade of Innocents Symposium, which was held at California State University Bakersfield today.

While there were numerous areas and topics covered the subject of human trafficking - a modern form of slavery - the symposium focused on the themes of child exploitation featured in the Trade of Innocents.

I was moderator for the first panel of the morning, which featured speakers from the FBI (Kurt Ormberg), the U.S. Attorneys Office (Elana Landau), and Specially Assigned Detective to the FBI from the Sacramento Police Department (Derek Stigerts, Violent Crimes Against Children Division).

   Law Enforcement Panel: L-R, Mark Martinez with panel discussants Kurt Ormberg, Derek Stigerts, and Elana Landau.

                          Trade of Innocents Producer, Jim Schmidt

While there is much I could say about the panels and the symposium, at this time I'm just going to say you need to watch this movie.

If you're in Bakersfield, Maya Cinemas has the film, which you can access here.

- Mark