List of Films - Human Trafficking Awareness
Films can be powerful tools for education and awareness—but not all portrayals of human trafficking are accurate, trauma-informed, or respectful of the communities most affected. Please check out our list of documentaries, series, and scripted features to support more informed advocacy.
This list highlights stories that reflect the root causes of trafficking, including housing instability, poverty, immigration policy, incarceration, racism, transphobia and homophobia, misogyny, stigma impacting trafficked boys and men, familial trafficking, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples (MMIP), police violence, religious abuse, child marriage, reproductive rights, access to healthcare, and other intersecting factors. Because this list is shaped by survivor input, recommended titles may change over time. Please check back for updates.
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in these films do not represent the official positions of CFPIC or our funding partners.
WARNING: Many of the films include sensitive content. Please consider your personal well-being when viewing or when sharing them with others as a resource.
Host a Screening or Event!
Interested in hosting a screening or panel in your local community?
Consider partnering with a PACT Consultant or other Lived Expert to bring real-life solutions and support attendees unpack a local response from a survivor informed lens to drive positive change.
Film Title: All We Carry Genre: Feature Documentary
Running time: 1 hour, 28 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Language: English, Spanish with english and spanish subtitles
Themes: Immigration, asylum seeking, community, family, migration, loss, mental health, faith
Synopsis: All We Carry follows a young Honduran family as they flee persecution—migrating in cargo trains across Mexico, claiming asylum at the US border, and enduring separation in detention before being released in Seattle. There, a local synagogue sponsors the family for two years while they await the final decision on their asylum case. As the family tries to settle into their new home, they navigate countless life-altering and every-day moments where memory, joy, and grief collide.
Film Title: American Street Kid
Genre: Documentary
Running Time: 1hr 44mins
Rating: Not Rated
Language: English
Themes: Youth homelessness, 2SLGBTQ+ vulnerability, Poverty, Systemic oppression and racism, Foster care system and child welfare corruption
Synopsis:
The documentary shows teenagers revealing how they became homeless and discusses their daily struggles living on the streets of Los Angeles. From interviewing teenagers, they explain their survival, what they had to do to stay alive, what people think of them, and the challenges they face: a lack of necessities, vulnerability to violence, and difficulty accessing education and healthcare. The history of teenagers being kicked out on the streets because of mental health substance abuse with their families tells a detailed story of youth finding safety and resources, revealing youth homelessness across the US.
Early identification is key to establishing a local response and connecting children and families to support. Recognizing potential indicators can support timely intervention and identification efforts, especially when combined with screening tools and comprehensive needs assessments. Identifying concerns early creates more opportunities for intervention and reduces the risk of further harm.
Film Title: Animal Kingdom
Genre: Crime Drama
Running time:
Rating: R
Language: English
Themes: Familial Labor Trafficking, Forced Criminality, Addiction, Poverty, Organized Crime
Synopsis: A seventeen-year-old navigates his survival amongst an explosive criminal family and the detective who thinks he can save him. Despite being no saint herself, Julia Cody has shielded her seventeen year old son, Joshua "J" Cody, from her Melbourne-based criminal relatives who they have not seen in years. After Julia dies in front of J's eyes from a self-inflicted heroin overdose, J, who is slightly detached from life, feels he has no choice but to contact his maternal grandmother, Janine "Smurf" Cody, the family matriarch, for a place to live.
Film Title: Black Girl Missing
Genre: Thriller, Crime, Drama, Mystery
Running time: 1 Hour, 28 Minutes
Rating: TV-14
Language: English
Themes: Racial Disparity, Mystery, Racism in the media and policing, White supremacy, Missing children, Internet grooming
Synopsis: A Black mother enlists the help of a dedicated community of amateur internet sleuths to try to find her missing daughter after authorities and the media quickly dismiss her case and focus on the search for a missing white girl instead.
Genre: Documentary
Running time: 1 Hour, 18 Minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Language: English
Themes: Poverty, Western Exploitation
Synopsis: Black Gold tells the story of Tadesse Meskela and his struggle to keep his 74,000 Ethiopian coffee farmers from Western exploitation. Black Gold exposes the truth behind each cappuccino and demands each and every one of us to wake up and smell the coffee. An in-depth look at the world of coffee and global trade.
Genre: Romance, Drama
Running time: 1 hour and 18 mins
Rating: Not Rated
Language: English
Themes: Youth, Mental Health, Systemic Neglect, Survivor Voices, Cultural Stigma
Synopsis:
Boys Documentary brings critical attention to the often-overlooked reality that men and boys in the United States are victims of sex trafficking. Filmed beginning in 2014 by Chris and Anna Smith with Kartal Peel, the team traveled nationwide to interview survivors, service providers, and law enforcement. The film centers the voices of four men with lived experience, including PACT Consultant Russell Wilson, highlighting both the scope of male sex trafficking and the resilience of survivors. Ultimately, Boys Documentary asserts that boys and men are indeed trafficked—and calls for a human response that stands with and supports survivors.
Genre: Documentary
Running time: 1 hour 33 mins
Rating: PG
Language: English
Themes: Foster Care to Trafficking Pipeline, Domestic Violence and Child Abuse, Familial Trafficking, Child Trafficking, Homelessness, Poverty, Systemic Racism and Misogyny / White Supremacy
Synopsis:
A feature documentary about child sex trafficking. The film recounts true stories of girls and boys who were commercially sexually exploited in California and are now survivors and courageous leaders fighting for the rights of victims worldwide.
Genre: Documentary/Drama
Running time: 46 mins
Rating: Not Rated
Language: English/Germany/French
Themes: Child Labor Trafficking, Food Industry, Slavery
Synopsis:
Children ages 7 to 15 years old, with the promise of paid work, are forced into slave labour. A team of journalists using hidden camera techniques. Containing testimonies from liberated children, activists, and traffickers that reveal the cocoa plantations.
Genre: Documentary
Running time: 1 hour 27 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Language: English, Spanish
Themes: Economic Injustice, Modern day slavery
Synopsis:
There is so much interest in food these days yet there is almost no interest in the hands that pick that food. In the US, farm labor has always been one of the most difficult and poorly paid jobs and has relied on some of the nation's most vulnerable people. While the legal restrictions which kept people bound to farms, like slavery, have been abolished, exploitation still exists, ranging from wage theft to modern-day slavery. These days, this exploitation is perpetuated by the corporations at the top of the food chain: supermarkets. Their buying power has kept wages pitifully low and has created a scenario where desperately poor people are willing to put up with anything to keep their jobs.
Genre: Documentary Drama
Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Rating: NR
Language: English/Spanish
Themes: Family, Mexican-American History, Child Labor, Undocumented
Synopsis: Fruits of Labor follows the day-in-a-life of a young farm worker in California dreams of being the first in her family to graduate from high school and go to college. There are unseen forces that keep her family trapped in poverty.
Genre: Documentary/Crime
Running time: 1 hour 41 minutes
Rating: TV-MA
Language: English
Themes: Sex Trafficking, Sexual Abuse, Female Predator, Youth homelessness, 2SLGBTQ+ vulnerability, Poverty, Addiction, Systemic oppression, Foster care system and child welfare corruption, Wealth and the unethical existence of billionaires, Government corruption, Police brutality / apathy and neglect of trafficking victims, Prosecutors’ corruption
Synopsis: From filmmakers of Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, this film goes beyond the headlines of the Ghislaine Maxwell case to tell the story of Epstein's mystery accomplice, illuminating how her class and privilege concealed her predatory nature.
Genre: Documentary
Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Language: English
Themes: Modern slavery, activism, human right abuse
Synopsis:
Ghost Fleet follows a small group of activists who risk their lives on remote Indonesian islands to find justice and freedom for the enslaved fishermen who feed the world's insatiable appetite for seafood. Bangkok-based Patima Tungpuchayakul, a Thai abolitionist, has committed her life to helping these "lost" men return home. Facing illness, death threats, corruption, and complacency, Patima's fearless determination for justice inspires her nation and the world.
Genre: Drama, Crime, Mystery
Running time: 1 hour 47 minutes
Rating: TV-MA
Language: German, English - Audio Description, English [Original], Spanish (Latin America), French, Italian
Themes: Child Sex Trafficking, Murder, Law Enforcement, Conspiracy,
Synopsis:
A special crimes investigator forms an unlikely bond with a serial killer to bring down a global child sex trafficking syndicate.
Film Title: I Am Jane Doe
Genre: Documentary Thriller
Running time: 1 hour 38 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Language: English
Themes: Child sex trafficking, sexual grooming, mother-daughter relationship, social impact, websites, legal system
Synopsis:
This intense documentary follows real cases of American girls enslaved in the child sex trade through ads in a newspaper's online classified section. Mary Mazie examines the uphill legal battle to hold Backpage and other classified websites responsible for the online sex trafficking of underage girls.
Genre: Feature Documentary
Running time: 1 hour
Rating: TV-MA
Language: English
Themes: Youth homelessness, LGBTQ+, Vulnerability, Poverty, Addiction, Systemic Oppression, Foster care system and child welfare corruption, Wealth and the unethical existence of billionaires, Government corruption Police brutality / apathy and neglect of trafficking victims, Prosecutors’ corruption, Suicide, Elitism
Synopsis: Netflix docuseries Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich takes an in depth look at the notorious scandal of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. From exclusive interviews with law enforcement to discussions with survivors, the series details the harrowing events that took place within a billionaires sex trafficking ring. The revelation of an extensive history of organized crime tells the narrative of a system that grants immunity to the financial elite. Survivors reveal the manipulation, abuse and emotional scars suffered at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Their stories expose a sex trafficking ring of powerful enablers leading up to his 2019 arrest.
Genre: Thriller mystery
Running time: 1 hour 35 minutes
Rating: R
Language: English
Themes: Based on a true story, a true crime mother-daughter relationship, missing person, serial killer
Synopsis:
After Mari Gilbert's daughter disappears, police inaction drives her own investigation into the gated Long Island community where Shannan was last seen. Her search brings attention to over a dozen murdered sex workers. Mari will not let the world forget. From Academy Award® nominated filmmaker Liz Garbus, "Lost Girls" is inspired by true events detailed in Robert Kolker's "Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery." World premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.
Genre: Drama
Running time: 1 hour 31 minutes
Rating: TV-14
Language: English/Spanish
Themes: Human Trafficking, trust, immigrant
Synopsis:
A girl from Honduras meets Hecho, who promises to get her safely to America to reunite with her mother. Nona faces a perilous journey when he doesn’t deliver on that promise. The charming boy is not so charming.
Genre: Documentary
Running time: 1 hour 32 minutes
Rating: R
Language: English
Themes: Child trafficking, Former pimps, social injustice, global issue
Synopsis: Sex+Money: A National Search for Human Worth is a 90 minute documentary that reveals the alarming truth about sex trafficking in the U.S. and the rise of advocates striving to end it. Beginning in September 2009, the film crew traveled to over 30 states and conducted more than 75 interviews with survivors, former traffickers, sex-buyers, pornographers, law enforcement, politicians, activists, and many others.
Genre: Documentary
Running time: 53 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Language: English
Themes: Criminal justice, child sex trafficking, undercover, law enforcement
Synopsis:
Sex Trafficking in America tells the unimaginable stories of young women coerced into prostitution – and follows one police unit that’s committed to rooting out sexual exploitation. Exposing the hidden reality of sex trafficking, inside a police unit and a victim's harrowing story. Filmed over three years, a look at how victims are groomed and sold and innovative ways undercover police target traffickers and buyers.
Film Title: Sextortion
Genre: Documentary
Running time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Language: English
Themes: Politics, child sexual abuse, cyber online world, justice system
Synopsis: An insider look into one of the largest sextortion cases investigated by Homeland Security and DOJ on American Soil. Various experts, parents, and victims sound the alarm on the fastest growing cyber crime against children ever.
Genre: Documentary Series
Running time: 45 minutes
Rating: 16+
Language: English
Themes: Religion, LGBTQ rights, Systemic child abuse, Corporal punishment, Grooming, Coercion, Brainwashing, Foster care system and child welfare corruption, Cult like practices, Christian fundamentalism, Child labor
Synopsis:
The documentary exposes the facade of a “shiny happy family” by detailing a culture of abuse, fear, and manipulation. The harmful, controlling nature of the Institute of Basic Life Principles. Revolve around the darker realities hidden behind the Duggar family’s public image and the harming experience.
Genre: Documentary
Running time: 16 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Language: English/Spanish
Themes: Child Labor, Migrant Children, Labor Trafficking, Illegal Employment, Death
Synopsis: In towns across America, children working in dangerous jobs in slaughterhouses is an open secret. Data from the Labor Department says that children are illegally working at alarming rates. NBC News takes you inside these slaughterhouses in an investigation that spans six states, two countries, dozens of interviews and thousands of pages of public records.
Genre: Documentary
Running time: 1 hour 19 minutes
Rating: TV-14
Language: English
Themes: Child sex trafficking, kidnapping, child pornography, online predators, modern day slavery
Synopsis: Stopping Traffic explores the pervasive reach of sex trafficking, especially of children in the U.S. and worldwide. Through commentary by victims and activists and investigations into practices in the U.S. and abroad, the film traces insidious links among child sexual exploitation, pornography, social media, and sex trafficking. It calls on the viewer to join the movement to end sex trafficking.
Genre: Documentary
Running time: 25 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Language: Spanish
Themes: Labor Trafficking, Immigrant Rights, Construction Industry
Synopsis:
Determined to prove himself to his estranged family, Arnoldo travels from Tijuana to San Francisco with a promise of steady work. Instead, he becomes a slave: sixteen hour workdays, no pay, meager food. After gaining his freedom, Arnoldo struggles with homelessness, continued exploitation, and the lasting impacts of trauma. But a chance encounter with a stranger starts to change his luck, and gives Arnoldo hope that he might yet return home with his head held high.
Genre: Adventure/Drama
Running time: 1 hour 46 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Language: English/Spanish
Themes: Poverty, Orphanhood (see also: COVID and rates of parents and caretakers dying), Domestic servitude, Forced labor, Agriculture industry, Border, Immigrant rights
Synopsis:
This film tells the parallel stories of nine-year-old Carlitos and his mother, Rosario. In the hopes of providing a better life for her son, Rosario works illegally in the U.S. while her mother cares for Carlitos back in Mexico. Unexpected circumstances drive both Rosario and Carlitos to embark on their own journeys in a desperate attempt to reunite. Along the way, mother and son face challenges and obstacles but never lose hope that they will one day be together again.
Genre: Crime Documentary
Running time: 1 hour 38 minutes
Rating: 16+
Language: English
Themes: Abuse of power, Me Too movement, Hollywood, Sexual harrassment, Sexual assault
Synopsis:
Feature documentary about the spectacular fall from grace of media mogul Harvey Weinstein. With a cast of characters including survivors, friends and colleagues, this is a portrait of power and its abuses, spanning over forty years.
Genre: Crime Documentary
Running time: 1 hour 23 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Language: English
Themes: Sex Slavery, Legal system wrongly prosecuting teenagers who’ve been trafficked, Systemic Racism and Misogyny / White Supremacy, Carceral system, Poverty and youth homelessness
Synopsis:
Very Young Girls, whose title reflects the fact that in the United States the average age of entry into prostitution is just thirteen. The film takes us into the work of a former sexually exploited youth-turned-activist named Rachel Lloyd, who started the New York City organization GEMS (Girls Educational and Mentoring Services) to help victimized young women escape their pimps and find another way of life.
Genre: Documentary Mini Series
Running time: 45 minutes
Rating: TV-MA
Language: English
Themes: Sexual Assault, Economic disparity and power dynamics, Systemic oppression and racism, Misogyny and racism in the legal system
Synopsis:
A revealing four-part documentary series from writer/director W. Kamau Bell that offers a deeply personal exploration of Bill Cosby's descent from "America's Dad" to alleged sexual predator. Exploring the complex story of Cosby's life and work, Bell invites comedians, educators, journalists, and Cosby survivors to have a refreshingly candid, first-of-its-kind conversation about the man, his career, and his crimes. Bell takes an unfiltered look at his legacy and the unexpected ramifications for an industry that enabled him.
Genre: Documentary
Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Language: English/Spanish
Themes: Unaccompanied minors, immigration, smugglers, ICE detention centers
Synopsis:
"Which Way Home" is a feature documentary film that follows unaccompanied child migrants, on their journey through Mexico, as they try to reach the United States. We follow children like Olga and Freddy, nine-year old Hondurans, who are desperately trying to reach their parents in the US.; children like Jose, a ten-year old El Salvadoran, who has been abandoned by smugglers and ends up alone in a Mexican detention center; and Kevin, a canny, streetwise fourteen-year old Honduran, whose mother hopes that he will reach the U.S. and send money back to her. These are stories of hope and courage, disappointment and sorrow. They are the children you never hear about; the invisible ones.