Not My Life

Not My Life
(32 min) Ghana/Nepal/Romania/Uganda/USA
[watch trailer]
[buy tickets]

Monday, 10/22, 4:10pm (Session XIII)

Director/Producer: Robert Bilheimer  

Description: 

Not My Life is the first documentary film to depict the horrifying and dangerous practices of human trafficking and modern slavery on a global scale. Filmed on five continents over a period of four years, Not My Life unflinchingly, but with enormous dignity and compassion, depicts the unspeakable practices of a multi-billion dollar global industry whose profits, as the film’s narration says, “are built on the backs and in the beds of our planet's youth.” While acknowledging that trafficking and slavery are universal crimes, affecting millions of human beings all over the world, Not My Life zeroes in on the fact that the vast majority of trafficking and slavery victims are indeed children. This fundamental truth, says the film’s director, Academy Award-nominee Robert Bilheimer, raises profound questions about the very nature of our civilization. “What kind of society cannibalizes its own children?” Bilheimer asks. “Can we do these sorts of things on such a large scale and still call ourselves human in any meaningful sense of the term?” Not My Life features dignified and inspiring testimonies from survivors; depictions of trafficking, exploitation, and slavery in all parts of the world, including forced labor in Africa; street begging and garbage picking in India; sexual trafficking in the US and Southeast Asia; and various forms of child enslavement and abuse in both North and South America. 

Biography: 

Robert Bilheimer, president of Worldwide Documentaries, Inc., is a director, writer, and producer with an international background in film, theatre, journalism, and creative writing. Robert's films focus on subjects of cultural, social, and humanitarian interest. In 1989, he received his profession’s highest honor: an Academy Award nomination for Cry of Reason, a feature-length documentary that tells the story of South African anti-apartheid leader Beyers Naude. Shortly after his Oscar nomination, Robert Bilheimer directed and produced I'm Still Here, a film about schizophrenia and serious mental illness, and a film adaptation of Samuel Beckett's Endgame, adapted by the author, for the Smithsonian Institute's Visual Press.  From 1986 to 1988 he was a resident scholar at the Anson Phelps-Stokes Institute for Black American and Native American Studies in New York City.  Robert has also taught, lectured, or spoken at distinguished academic institutions around the world, including the Eastman School of Music and the John F. Kennedy School of Government. 

Contact Information:

Unicef USA
E-mail: jkchan@unicefusa.org
Web Site: www.unicefusa.org



©2012 United Nations Association Film Festival (UNAFF)
SELECT A FILM:

Axis of Light
The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
Beneath the Blindfold
Bidder 70
Blank Canvas
Buffalo Girls
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Captive Radio
Catherine the Great
Color Blind
The Crime of Boris Pasternak
Day in Our Bay: Voices & Views From Bristol Bay
A Day in the Water Life
A Declaration of Interdependence
Difficult Love
Doctors of the Dark Side
Don Severo del Puente
Empress Hotel
Escape
A Flicker in Eternity
Going Up the Stairs
Greedy Lying Bastards
Hazaribagh, Toxic Leather
Herman's House
Imagining Emanuel
In Short Supply: Small Farmers and the Struggle to Deliver Healthy Food to Your Plate
Inocente
Irena Sendler: In the Name of Their Mothers
Journey of a Red Fridge
Karama Has No Walls
Little Mom
The Lord Is Not On Trial Here Today
Love Free or Die
The Loving Story
Mexican Cuisine
The Mexican Suitcase
Mrs. Judo: Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful
Not My Life
Nothing Like Chocolate
Opium Brides
Portrait of Wally
Rainman Goes to RocKwiz
Rebels With a Cause
The Red Button
Reportero
Reunion
Sacred Stones
Scarlet Road
Semper Fi: Always Faithful
Sing Your Song
Smoke Songs
State of Control
Surviving Progress
Ten Quintillion
Thirty Years of War in the Name of God
This Space Available
Through Her Eyes
Tokyo Waka: A City Poem
Transgenders: Pakistan's Open Secret
Undocumented Dreams
Unravel
We Still Live Here
Weathering Change
The Well: Water Voices From Ethiopia
Where Soldiers Come From
White and Black: Crimes of Color
A Wild Idea
Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up
Words of Witness



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