Monday, October 25, 2010

Community Forum

0 comments Posted by Lia Elliott at 9:54 AM

In SW Portland tonight at 7pm, a community forum on the sexual exploitation and trafficking of children will be heald! I would highly recommend attending if you are available. Dan Rather's documentary, Pornland will be shown and a panel discussion will occur. Hope you can make it!



 

 

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Wednesday, October 13, 2010

The Event

0 comments Posted by Lia Elliott at 4:37 PM

The fundraiser in L.A. was amazing! We spread the word about sex trafficking and raised some money! I have been asked to return to L.A. next month to set up a booth at Freedom and Fashion's fashion show! :) I'm still waiting to find out if I get to show my short doc. or not. If you have not yet watched the short, then here it is

 

Saturday, October 2, 2010

IT'S UP!

2 comments Posted by Lia Elliott at 12:44 PM

THE DOCUMENTARY WEBSITE IS UP, ALONG WITH THE SHORT VIDEO!

Check it out at www.underneathdoc.com :)

 

Website

0 comments Posted by Lia Elliott at 12:34 PM

My web guy was throwing up in the hospital all evening, so we were unable to meet our deadline of revealing www.unsilencedpictures.com on Oct. 1st.

The documentary short is complete and all information for the website. Even though he is still sick my web designer is working to get it all up today. We will have a really nice version of Unsilenced Pictures' website and Underneath the Surface's (the documentary) ready for people to view today and then we'll tweak things here and there to make it perfect, once he feels better! :)

 

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Monday, September 27, 2010

L.A. Fundraiser

0 comments Posted by Lia Elliott at 11:08 AM

Alright, so the deadline for Unsilenced Pictures' website, the documentary short, and much more, is this Friday Oct 1st! That way everything will be ready when I leave Thur. Oct 7th for the fundraiser in L.A..

Unsilenced Pictures' website has been a long time coming and I will be glad to have a professional website up and running instead of it just connecting to this blog.

There is a large fundraiser being held Friday October 8th at Cinespace Restaurant and Lounge in Hollywood and Unsilenced Pictures is one of the four organizations/companies that will be receiving the proceeds for the evening. I will be showing our short at the event and talking about our project. I will be starting the evening off at 9:30pm, so if you plan on attending I advise that you show up early! If you know anyone in the L.A. area, please pass on this information.

All the money that we will be receiving that evening will go straight towards our Cambodia/Portland, Oregon Sex Trade Documentary.

We still have about $200,000 to raise in the next year to start production in Cambodia, so we are very excited about this fundraiser. We will also have a large fundraiser in Portland, Oregon that I will keep you all posted on!

Check www.unsilencedpictures.com after October 1st to see our new website!

 

Monday, July 5, 2010

P.E.O. Speaking Engagement Speech

0 comments Posted by Lia Elliott at 3:05 PM


P.E.O. Sister hood helped me attend college and they are helping me raise funds for my documentary. They are a group of extraordinary women and I had the privilege of speaking at one of their dinners. Below is what I said...

"I remember when I first started taking speech communication classes years ago and we had to talk for 5 whole minutes. I thought, how in the world am I going to talk for 5 minutes, that’s just way too long. The last presentation I gave lasted about 30 minutes and could I have gone longer. When asked to talk at this event, I was told I had 5mins. I thought to myself, only 5 minutes? How could I possibly say everything I need to say in 5 minutes? I’ll do my best to keep it under 5 minutes.

I just graduated George Fox University with a B.A. in Cinema & Media Communications. That’s a fancy way of saying, I make films. This would not have been possible if it wasn’t for all of you amazing women and your commitment to helping women succeed.

I received the Oregon Scholarship, without which I would not have been able to afford to attend George Fox. My time at George Fox University was priceless.

I learned more about who I am, what I am passionate about, and what truly matters in life. I realized my passion for victims of sex trafficking and how I can use my gift of filmmaking to really make a difference.

Sex trafficking is a form of modern day slavery where men, women, and children are forced or tricked into a place where their bodies may be sold and used as sex objects over and over again.

800,000 people are trafficked, bought and sold, across international borders each year. 50% of these victims are children, and 4 out of 5 are female. Cambodia is one of the top destinations for sex tourism & trafficking.

I traveled to Cambodia last August and worked with survivors of sex trafficking. I taught them a film class and we made a video together. I couldn’t have imagined how much of an impact it would have, not only on my life, but the girls’ lives as well.

There counselor, who doubled as my translator, said that the girls revealed more about their lives in our short time together, then they had in numerous counseling sessions. That was amazing to realize I played such a big part in helping the girls communicate what had been done to them. It was a life changing experience to hear their stories and be a part of their healing.

Human trafficking is a worldwide epidemic. It is not a tragedy that occurs only in places like Thailand, India, or Cambodia, but it also happens in Australia, Europe and even in the United States. This atrocity is happening all over the world, and most people are completely unaware of it.

This last year I have been working on my feature length documentary on the sex trade in Cambodia and the U.S., and I will continue to raise funds for the next year and a half before we begin filming in Cambodia. This has been a grueling task, but I know it will also be tremendously rewarding. Every time I get overwhelmed with all the work I just picture those girls’ faces and I remember why I am doing this. I have no choice, I have to make this film. Not just for those girls I met in Cambodia, but for all the girls and boys that are enslaved in the world. I refuse to sit back and do nothing, when I have the power to change lives.

I have been working on building my own film company, Unsilenced Pictures, with the goal of transforming lives with the truth. I want to make films that uncover atrocities and motivate people to action. I want to leave this life knowing I made a positive difference…and you all have contributed to that. I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for making my dreams; and therefore, others’ dreams a reality. Thanks you."

 

Currently

0 comments Posted by Lia Elliott at 2:49 PM

A lot has happened in my life the last few months, some good, and some really difficult...

Some of the good stuff that occurred is that I am now officially graduated from college, yippy! I have an amazing Producer, Director of Photography, and Editor on board for the documentary. The proposal and short video need some editing, but they are at least written! :)

God has most definitely put people in my path that are already helping tremendously with the project. My logo is FINALLY complete and my website is well on its way! Business cards will be made in the next week.

I have been working with a business counselor to help me with getting a grasp on my financing and business model for my film company.

The wonderful ladies at P.E.O. sisterhood are putting on an amazing fundraising event this fall for the documentary. When I have more details, I will let you know. I spoke at a huge event for P.E.O., and it was incredible! In my next post I will post my speech...

I am also working a full time job, the fun never stops. ;)

Okay, so we still need to raise at least $100,000 to get this film going! Who's with me?!

 

Friday, February 12, 2010

Exciting Addition

1 comments Posted by Lia Elliott at 11:29 PM

As of this week I have an official producer for my documentary, Barbara Grandvoinet. I really enjoyed talking with her and think we are on the same page. She seems amazing and has produced a lot of documentary films through out the years. She just returned from Bangkok where she was finishing up filming Children of the Trains.

 

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Learning to Blog

2 comments Posted by Lia Elliott at 12:00 AM

Okay, so I just started this whole blog thing, I think last June. I had no clue what I was doing, and I have had to learn as I go.

I am taking an awesome Journalism and a Mass Media class that are both talking about Blogging right now. I am excited for what I will learn, and applying it to this blog site. I am finding out that if I am going to be serious about blogging I have to make a post EVERY day. Also, I need to engage the reader and make it easier for them to comment. It's a very interactive, two way communication vehicle. Together the blogger and the reader are to make blogs better. Interesting.

I am debating if this will be the site that is associated with my film website and the news blog, or if I should start a new one since I've written so much about Cambodia and various things. I would change things around if that was the case though. I would be afraid that this blog site would fade away if that was the case though. I welcome any thoughts.

 

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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

My Film Business

0 comments Posted by Lia Elliott at 8:42 PM

The name of my film company is officially Unsilenced Pictures, which I am very excited about! :)

My website (www.unsilencedpictures.com) and logo is currently under construction and should be completed within the next month. At this point my website URL is just redirected to this blog site.

Once I get my logo established I am going to make business cards as well. Lot's to do!

Zack Kopper is helping me design and build my website. Upon his and my advisor, Sarah Gibson's urging, I am finally jumping into the Social Media phenomenon. I joined over 20 social media sites in one day! Now I just have to figure out how the heck to use them!

 

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