About the season
A series of ground breaking documentary films uncover the lives of men, women and children living as modern slaves in all corners of the world. Whether it is the deeply flawed Kafala System in the Middle East or the prolific number of children bought and sold in India, Why Slavery? shines a light on the millions of lives lived in the shadow of enslavement.
Jailed in America
JAILED IN AMERICA
In a deeply personal and provocative film, director Roger Ross Williams sets out on a journey to understand the complex forces of racism and greed in America’s prison system today that enslave young black and poor men.
Selling Children
Indian Director Pankaj Johar uncovers how inequality and poverty provide a breeding ground for the enslavement of children across India.
A Woman Captured
A raw and intimate portrayal of the psychology behind enslavement. Director Bernadett Tuza-Ritter offers an evocative study of a woman so debased and disregarded that even she has lost sight of her own life. Drawing courage from the filmmaker's presence, Marish eventually reveals her plan: She will leave the unbearable oppression behind and attempt to escape. The film follows a woman’s heroic journey back to freedom.
Maid in Hell
2.8 million migrant women work as maids in the Middle East. They are bound to their employers under a system known as Kafala. Often trapped and abused- this is their story.
Doing Money
Written by Gwyneth Hughes and directed by Lynsey Miller, Doing Money is a shocking true story about slavery in modern Britain. This fact-based one-off drama follows the heart-breaking and compelling story of Ana, a young Romanian woman snatched in broad daylight from a London street, trafficked to Ireland and used as a sex slave in a series of 'pop up’ brothels.
Ana’s story offers a tense and thought-provoking thriller, with powerful insights into the challenges of policing a form of modern slavery that hides in plain sight. It exposes just how big business "doing money" is.
Dollar Heroes
150,000 forced North Korean labourers worldwide are working to provide foreign currency for North Korea's regime – even in Europe. This investigative documentary sheds light on how this state-organized human trafficking helps to finance Kim Jong-un's nuclear program.