Director Paul Santana of bicoastal Rabbit shatters the silence in a powerful :90 PSA, “Act Now,” for Stop The Traffik, produced direct-to-client. Santana employs eerily ambiguous images of human trafficking in America, accompanied by multi-lingual cries for help.
The PSA’s intentionally blurry, disjointed imagery includes shattering glass, the forging of ID cards, a posting of a missing person, a fishnet stockings-clad woman on a dirty bed, dented cars traversing back alleys, women with empty stares in a crowded textile factory and flashes of harsh daylight exposing the injustice.
In the background, whispers echo in various languages as a non-native English speaker narrates, “This country seems so endless, you can drive and drive and never see another person. You can be lost and so hard to find. I’m still here, but you don’t see me. So I scream to be heard. I scream to be found.” As the PSA progresses, more and more images of shattering glass build to a crescendo, heaping onto the floor under the closing super, “Human Trafficking. In America. Break the Silence. Act now, go to www.stopthetraffik.org.”
“The general perception,” said Santana, “is that this type of modern day slavery is only reserved for third-world countries and dark corners of the globe. Much frustration lies in our inability to flush it out or to ever get a good look at it. We approached the storytelling with the hopes of creating a sense of this unseen world, and the frustration that its indefinable nature creates. There are very few people featured for this very reason.”
Disney Pledges $15 million In L.A. Fire Aid As More Celebs Learn They’ve Lost Their Homes
The Pacific Palisades wildfires torched the home of "This Is Us" star Milo Ventimiglia, perhaps most poignantly destroying the father-to-be's newly installed crib.
CBS cameras caught the actor walking through his charred house for the first time, standing in what was once his kitchen and looking at a neighborhood in ruin. "Your heart just breaks."
He and his pregnant wife, Jarah Mariano, evacuated Tuesday with their dog and they watched on security cameras as the flames ripped through the house, destroying everything, including a new crib.
"There's a kind of shock moment where you're going, 'Oh, this is real. This is happening.' What good is it to continue watching?' And then at a certain point we just turned it off, like 'What good is it to continue watching?'"
Firefighters sought to make gains Friday during a respite in the heavy winds that fanned the flames as numerous groups pledged aid to help victims and rebuild, including a $15 million donation pledge from the Walt Disney Co.
More stars learn their homes are gone
While seeing the remains of his home, Ventimiglia was struck by a connection to his "This Is Us" character, Jack Pearson, who died after inhaling smoke in a house fire. "It's not lost on me life imitating art."
Mandy Moore, who played Ventimiglia's wife on "This Is Us," nearly lost her home in the Eaton fire, which scorched large areas of the Altadena neighborhood. She said Thursday that part of her house is standing but is unlivable, and her husband lost his music studio and all his instruments.
Mel Gibson's home is "completely gone," his publicist Alan Nierob confirmed Friday. The Oscar winner revealed the loss of his home earlier Friday while appearing on Joe Rogan's... Read More