Nicosia, Cyprus. Four short films addressing online exploitation and human trafficking are debuting this week as part of an Erasmus+ project that brought together young people, migrants and survivors to research and share lived experiences.
Project background and aims
The films were developed through the Erasmus+ project Film Making for Social Change, in which participants researched, created and shared stories about human trafficking and online exploitation. Step up Stop Slavery CEO Katerina Stephanou said she provided guidance on trafficking and exploitation and access to expert support, while participants led the exploration, decision-making, writing, film making, editing, and subsequent screening and dissemination.
According to Stephanou, the films are designed as educational tools to help young people think critically, protect one another, encourage victims to seek help, promote responsible behaviour and compassion, and inform parents about online risks facing children. She said the project is notable for placing young people in leading roles and enabling them to communicate directly with peers using their own experiences.
Education and storytelling in prevention
Stephanou said education of youth combined with active youth engagement and participation is vital for prevention and child protection. She said storytelling can sensitise audiences to human trafficking, help identify potential victims and save lives, adding that trafficking does not only happen elsewhere and can occur in plain sight.
She said film making can raise awareness and educate the public, and that seeing a real person’s story can help viewers understand manipulation and control and become more likely to identify victims and seek help.
Consortium film on forced labour trafficking
One of the films, Not as I Thought, was produced through collaboration among partner organisations from Cyprus, Latvia and Malta. The partners engaged with survivor support, shared four stories and voted on which one to adapt. Stephanou said they chose a story about trafficking for forced labour, describing it as a growing form of trafficking globally.
She said identification rates remain very low, with less than one per cent of victims being identified, and added that victims generally do not come forward because they may be unaware they are victims or may be threatened and afraid. After selecting the story, a scriptwriting team was chosen to develop the film.
Expert advice was provided by survivor leaders, with consultations involving survivors and international experts. Stephanou said the production implemented red flag indicators created by the Survivors of Trafficking Advisory Council to ensure the film and script were accurate and could serve as teaching tools.
Production roles and partner perspectives
Tchouanteu Stéphane Noël, director of NGO Tapseu PouH, took on multiple roles for Not as I Thought, contributing to script writing, acting, and supporting the technical team as a sound assistant. He said the project brought together people from diverse backgrounds in an atmosphere of mutual support and learning, and said it added a human dimension to an issue often reduced to statistics.
Noël said the film helps audiences understand trafficking mechanisms, break silence, and encourage solidarity and engagement in support of migrants and victims.
Three Cyprus-made films focused on online exploitation
The other three films, Break the Silence, Destinations and In My Room, were created in Cyprus and focus on online exploitation of young people. Stephanou said the team met with the police cyber crime unit to identify urgent issues, selected topics based on those discussions, and worked in parallel with the unit during script development and filming to incorporate police guidance and depict real-life scenarios.
She added that the team also met the ministry of education to incorporate guidance on protocols and how such cases are handled in schools.
Director and research basis
The films were directed and written by Konstantinos Farmakas, a fifth-year film student at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki. Farmakas said online exploitation incidents happen frequently and that the stories are based on real events from actual cases.
Farmakas said visual storytelling can have more impact than statements alone and cited film critic Roger Ebert’s comment that movies generate empathy. He said research with police indicated a lack of empathy, and said increasing awareness is necessary to build empathy, describing this as a main lesson from participating in the films.
What steps will you take to recognise and respond to signs of online exploitation or human trafficking in your community?