It’s 2010. Tom and Nacole’s daughter is missing. She ran away from the home they built her. Within 48 hours she’ll be forced into a life of prostitution.
It’s 2007. Lisa is 13 years old and on the streets. She needs to survive. She’ll spend the next six years trying to cope with that decision.
It’s 2005. Andy arrests a girl for the second time. Frustrated, he asks her “Why?” The answer changes his life.
Set in Seattle, Washington, the feature documentary film “The Long Night” gives voice and meaning to the crisis of minors who are forced and coerced into the American sex trade. The film weaves together the stories of seven people whose lives are forever changed by domestic minor sex trafficking.
“The Long Night” is not themed to advocate a solution. Instead, it submerges the viewer in Natalie and Lisa’s experience surviving the life; in Tom and Nacole watching their daughter slip out of their hands; in Andy and his fellow police officers, Brian and Joel, trying to create a more just system.
Filmed and directed by award-winning photojournalist Tim Matsui, produced in partnership with MediaStorm and the Alexia Foundation, “The Long Night” is an intimate and visceral testimony to those who have lived this crisis. There will be a talkback with Tim Matsui after the screening.
“Incredibly intimate look at a young West Coast woman’s battle to leave a life of sex work and addiction.” – Time LightBox
“The Long Night is a gripping and honest account of addiction, sex work, and the lives of a survivor and her family. Viewers also get to know the police who are trying to change the system, and a young woman who can’t break free of the life. You need to see this film about sex work and addiction.” -David Ryder, Huffington Post
“The Long Night is an important look into the underbelly of the Northwest region’s sex trade. Anyone who cares about kids should view it.” -Thanh Tan, Seattle Times
Tim Matsui is a photojournalist at heart, but he’s also become a documentary filmmaker, a non profit founder, and an agent for change. His extensive work on trauma and victimization started with sexual violence then transitioned to human trafficking for labor and sex, both domestically and abroad. His most recent project, the feature documentary The Long Night tells the story of seven lives forever changed by the American sex trade. Produced in partnership with MediaStorm, it won first prizes from World Press Photo, Pictures of the Year International, and Best of Photojournalism, along with a Webby Nomination and was a finalist for the Dart Center Award.
To fund this project, Matsui won the inaugural Women’s Initiative Grant from the Alexia Foundation. To develop the film’s impact campaign, he won a grant from the Fledgling Fund, in partnership with Andrew DeVigal and Laura LoForti of A Fourth Act, and ran a successful, $17,000 Kickstarter this summer.
Join Matsui to learn how you can use photojournalism, documentary film, and partnerships to engage audiences and help them become agents of change.
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