Los Angeles Screening at the Culver Plaza Theaters on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010, at 8:00 p.m.

For Immediate Release

LOS ANGELES/EWORLDWIRE/Feb. 22, 2010 --- In a poignant documentary, Modern Day Slaves, real people enduring real atrocities will premiere on Feb. 27, 2010, at the New York International Independent Film Festival in Los Angeles.

Producer Ted Unarce rips away the coverings concealing atrocities that overseas foreign workers face when forced to leave their home country in search of work to support their families. These unprotected workers are often exploited and abused by the people who employ them.

Unarce filmed the stories of four Filipino overseas foreign workers (OFWs) who were subject to abuse, rape and torture. The film documents how ex-pats are forgotten by both their third-world and first-world host countries, to become the by-product of human trafficking and extreme human rights violations.

Modern Day Slaves is visual documentation of these workers as they leave their homeland to find work in another country. Many of them leave with the hope of earning higher wages. While they do earn 300 percent to 500 percent more compared to what they will earn back in their homeland, many of them end up working as domestic helpers which, in many cases, translates into their becoming modern day slaves.

There are an estimated 11 million documented modern day slaves - and hundreds of thousands more undocumented - in society today.

The film also reveals how the Philippine government actively encourages its citizens to leave their country as foreign workers. The corrupt government taxes what little wages the OFWs send home in the form of remittances, perpetuating the class system they flee. These remittances of hard currency represents a critical lifeline to their home country, providing an influx of influential buying power.

In 2008, OFWs repatriated nearly $18 billion to the Philippines.

OFWs are easy targets for exploitation, often enduring long hours of work, low pay, and poor living conditions. They exist in a legal gray zone were they have no way of protecting their rights. As a result, OFWs are vulnerable to abuse and mistreatment. They often sleep in densely packed housing units after doing backbreaking work for six or seven days a week.

As the film documents their stories and reveals how their human rights are violated, the viewing public experiences the horrific consequences of human trafficking: rape, severe physical and psychological torture, and beheadings.

Says Ted Unarce, "While [such] problems of the Third World are daunting and perhaps uncomfortable to watch, it is critical for those of us in the First World to look at them with eyes wide open. This, in part, is to learn how not to repeat the same mistakes. In a world that appears to be getting smaller every day, more than ever, other countries' problems are becoming our own. Our focus on the abuse and trafficking of foreign workers comes at a time when rising global unemployment is leading to an historic reverse migration away from the First World. For growing numbers of Americans and Europeans, the trials and tribulations of foreign workers are no longer hypothetical but reality."

The documentary movie will be presented in the New York International Film Festival in Los Angeles at the Culver Plaza Theaters on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010, at 8:00 p.m.

Modern Day Slaves was officially selected for screening and competition to the following festivals:

. Buffalo Niagara Film Festival, April 16-25, 2010
. Cannes Film Festival in Paris, France, May 2010
. International Film Festival Thailand, July 13-17, 2010
. Hearts of England International Film Festival, Aug. 10-15, 2010
. International Film Festival Ireland on Sept. 11, 2010
. Chagrin Falls International Film Festival Ohio, Oct 12-17, 2010

Awards are:

. Award of Excellence 2009 from the Indie Fest
. Award of Excellence from Canada International Film Festival
. Humanitarian Award 2010 from The Indie Fest
. 2010 Gold Kahuna Award from Honolulu Film Festival

More information about the premiere of Modern Day Slaves, can be found at ModernDaySlavesMovie.com ('http://www.ModernDaySlavesMovie.com').

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CONTACT:
Gracie Suzara
GTC Films
2033 Gateway Place
Ste 500
San Jose, CA 95110
PHONE. 408 239 4750

SOURCE: GTC Films