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HomeForbidden Freedom: Slavery in Southwest Florida

Human trafficking documentary tracks teen's case in Lee County

Latin singer Ricky Martin is expected to receive the coalition’s first award honoring work against trafficking

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Roll out the red carpet. Hollywood is coming to Lee County.

The Coalition Against Human Trafficking in Southwest Florida on Tuesday announced the premiere of a Hallmark documentary about the crime of human trafficking will debut in Estero in September. About 80 percent of the film is expected to focus on Lee County, where officials last May made arrests in the case of a Guatemalan teen girl they said was held against her will and repeatedly raped in Cape Coral.

Among the invited celebrity guests of honor: Latin singer and Miami resident Ricky Martin, who is expected to receive the coalition’s first award honoring work against trafficking.

Anna Rodriguez, founder of the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking and a victim’s advocate who worked with the girl, said the premiere of the film will take place Sept. 9 at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point.

The event will be a fundraiser for the coalition, she said.

Produced by Gayla Jamison through her Georgia-based freelance company, Lightfoot Productions, the movie will air on national television later that month.

The big news has sent the coalition’s leadership in search of sponsors for the $30,000 event and sparked hopes activists such as Martin will give the premiere true Tinseltown glamour.

The Grammy-nominated singer of “Living La Vida Loca” has been a high-profile part of the federal government’s campaign against trafficking.

In 2005, the U.S. Department of State in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report listed Martin as among its heroes working to end human trafficking. Martin is pictured alongside figures such as the co-founder of a concerned parents’ association in Uganda and the queen of Sweden.

The Ricky Martin Foundation also has joined the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ national public awareness campaign against trafficking.

The singer now is touring in Europe, but Rodriguez said conversations with his managers have gone well and she is hopeful he will attend.

Martin would be the night’s keynote speaker, she said.

Invitations also are going out to such stars as Mira Sorvino, who recently starred in a separate film about trafficking, and musical artist Jose Feliciano.

Washington officials also will be asked to join the event.

The Hallmark documentary follows efforts in Lee County to fight trafficking, including Rodriguez’s work, as well of that of the coalition and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

Its focus is not on any one person or agency, Rodriguez said, but instead about the effort the community has made to fight the crime.

The crew started filming in the area last summer and finished up last month. Hallmark producers visited Guatemala and Mexico for the movie as well.

HBO has shot footage focused on Lee County for its own documentary about human trafficking. Its run date has not yet been announced.

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