THE NEW ABOLITIONISTS to Screen at Manhattan Film Festival

"The New Abolitionists," a documentary by director/producer/actress Christina Zorich, will screen at the NYC Independent Film Festival on June 12 and the Manhattan Film Festival on June 20, 2021.

The film had been entered in several international and domestic film festivals including Cyprus Film Festival, Red Rock Film Festival, LA Femme International Film Festival and Utah Film Festival.

The documentary tracks Zorich's journey as she follows committed abolitionists throughout Southeast Asia as they attempt to affect change and put an end to human sex trafficking by the Christian ministries and NGO's (non-government organizations) who save children and teens in the sex trade throughout Cambodia and Thailand. They educated her on the causes and conditions that led to the blossoming of this criminal industry, the government's complicity, and the structure they used to solve the problem: Rescue, Rehabilitation, Prosecution and Prevention.

The film was a long journey for Zorich. She made 2 trips to the region, the first in 2015, where she laid the groundwork for a longer shoot, meeting the people involved in these rescues. She utilized the footage from the first trip to hone the film she would eventually make, testing the footage with focus groups and took an online course with documentarian Darren Wilson. She returned to the region a year later, A total of 600 hours of footage was shot and Zorich spent the next 3 years editing her film.

"The New Abolitionists" was directed and produced by Zorich; Story Editor Landon Satterfield was Co-Editor with Zorich. The late Academy Award-winning actress Olympia Dukakis, who is also Zorich's mother, came on as a producer during post-production to help complete the film.

The film will screen at the NYC Independent Film Festival on Saturday, June 12 at 3 pm in Theater 2 at the Producers Club, 358 W. 44th Street. Tickets can be purchased at www.nycindieff.com. For the Manhattan Film Festival, the film will screen Sunday, June 20 at 7 pm at Cinema Village, 22 E. 12th Street. Tickets can be purchased at www.manhattanff.com.