The largest-ever media campaign on modern slavery will now have its feature films launched online. From the 2nd to the 16th of December, the 6 award-winning documentaries will be screened and debated in 4 languages, forming the WHY SLAVERY? Online Premiere. The starting day of the event marks the International Day for Abolition of Slavery.

The Danish non-profit organisation THE WHY Foundation is engaging other 11 international organisations in the event. The efforts shed light on the more than 40 million people worldwide that are victims of modern slavery, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Innovating in the format,THE WHY uses the live mode on their Youtube channell to create local events accessible from across the globe. “The premiere works like an online festival, and since it will have transmissions in 5 different languages, it will have a global reach”, explains Alberica Rindi, coordinator of the initiative.

Free of charge, the event will have films subtitled in Arabic, English, French, Spanish and Swahili. After the live screening, each documentary will be available online for 48h. To participate and get the link to the films, it’s necessary to sign up using the forms for the respective films and languages - find all the links at the bottom of the text.

PHYSICAL EVENT IN COPENHAGEN

One of the 6 films will also be shown in a physical screening in Copenhagen, where THE WHY is based, on the 4th of December. The award-winning documentary Dollar Heroes: North Korea Secret Slaves, exposes the world’s largest slaving operations. The directors Sebastin Weis and Carl Gierstorfer will participate, answering questions from the public. Despite audience limitations due to Covid-19, the expectations of engagement are high, since the documentary will be transmitted both physically and online. The Copenhagen event is organised in partnership with the Projektakademiet initiative of KBH+, and will take place in Bioteket - a volunteer-based green culture hub.

PROGRAM

02.12 - 19:00 - Maid In Hell 

04.12 - 20:00 - Dollar Heroes with Q&A with directors Sebastian Weis & Carl Gierstorfer (online and physical event)

07.12 -  16:00 - Selling Children with Q&A with director Pankaj Johar

10.12 -  19:00 - I was a Yazidi Slave

13.12 - 18:00 - A woman captured

16.12 - 19:00 - Jailed in America