Street Dreams (2012)

Who are these unknown girls who service South East Asia's billion dollar sex industry? How did they get there? Is this their chosen lifestyle? In Street Dreams, the audience is taken throughout Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines to discover first-hand who is paying the heaviest price in this region's growing flesh trade. Through intimate interviews with girls previously and presently caught up in prostitution along with those attempting to save them, the audience is exposed to the harsh and little-known realities of life in the sex industry. With undercover footage taken by hidden cameras, the film shows disturbing but powerful images, including never-before-seen footage of the attempted rescue of a 17-year-old girl from a Bangkok brothel. In the end, Street Dreams turns its attention to its audience: having seen the inspirational work of many organizations and individuals in the film, the viewers are challenged and encouraged to join the struggle against the emerging sex trade. Making the most of Asia's surreal and dramatic locations, Street Dreams contains visually arresting and incisive stories of dreams stolen, destroyed - and in many occasions - redeemed. In an age where the sex trade and human trafficking has grown to be one of the largest criminal activities in the world, the Street Dreams documentary will be a challenge to stand in solidarity with the oppressed, the poor and manipulated - so that they may dream again.