Humboldt Bay group awards grant for survivor-led trafficking film

Soroptimist International of Humboldt Bay handed a $5,000 boost to Access Humboldt and the creative team behind Typically Trafficked, tying the money to a survivor-led film project and a public anti-trafficking gathering in Eureka. The grant presentation took place Saturday at 11 a.m. at Carson Park, just before the Annual Walk Against Human Trafficking, which ran from noon to 2 p.m.

The film at the center of the award is a 10-minute narrative short based on the true story of Edrie Black, a member of the Karuk Tribe of Northern California. Black was taken from a party on Eureka’s west side in 2010, trafficked, escaped, and later became an advocate for survivors. She co-wrote Typically Trafficked with Laura Costa, and Thalia Costa Black, 11, is part of the narration, giving the project an intergenerational voice as well as a survivor’s perspective.

Access Humboldt has folded the film into BOLDtFEST, its year-round short-film incubator that takes 10 award-winning screenplays through production and into a red-carpet world premiere at the Eureka Theater. The program provides education, tools, space, cast and crew calls, marketing strategy, and a premiere event, in service of “authentic storytelling in Humboldt by Humboldt.” The production for Typically Trafficked is scheduled to culminate in a red-carpet premiere at the Eureka Theater on Oct. 16.

Humboldt County Soroptimist members from SI/Arcata, SI/Eureka, SI/Eel River Valley, SI/Humboldt Bay, SI/McKinleyville and SI/The Redwoods attended the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors meeting on May 22, where the county presented a Human Trafficking Proclamation. Soroptimist International of the Americas has about 1,300 clubs and roughly 30,000 members and supporters worldwide.