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Project Nightlight Films
At Project Nightlight, we know it's hard to get people's attention, especially when it comes to serious topics like child abuse. That's why we're trying to put our message out in an interesting format. Check out these short films and tell us what you think. films@projectnightlight.org . All short films were produced by Stacia Oemig and directed by Azad Jafarian.
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Project Nightlight Promo: Everyday while we are safe in our homes, children are terrorized by abusive parents. Please help us to encourage these children to report the abuse in their lives. Composer: Ryan Amen |
The Real OC: Growing up in Orange Country, abuse was a part of Adira's every day life. As a child, Autrina was was physically and emotionally beaten on a daily basis. She suffered for years with the secret because she was afraid things would just get worse if she told anyone. Finally, at sixteen, she became so fearful for her life that she confided in her school counselor. From there she went on to live in a group children's home. Things weren't always peachy living in social care, but here she didn't have to fear for her life ever again. Today, Adira has found her passion as a massage therapist. |
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Quicktime: High Resolution
| Low Resolution Gang Life: Violence surrounded Rick as a child. His first memory of childhood was watching his father beat his mother so violently that he knocked her teeth out. Social Services started checking on Rick when he was eight, but he was very distrustful of them. Instead of going into social care he ran to the streets and eventually became part of a street gang. Here his life was filled with more violence and robberies. Eventually he was caught and sentenced to time in a juvenile detention center, then to prison. Rick says that prison is what saved his life. Had he continued living on the streets he would be dead now.
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Quicktime: High
Resolution Shannta and Allia: Shannta's life started out rough. Her mother was unable to care for her and she was removed from her home and sent to live with her Grandmother at an early age. This didn't work out as both her Grandmother's boyfriend and her uncle started molesting her. Shannta knew that this wasn't right and ran away. Thankfully, Shannta didn't end up on the street like so many other runaways. Instead, she found help in social care and was placed in a group home. Here she thrived! She made great friends and was able to finish school, all while earning a little spending money for doing chores around the house. Today, Shannta has broken the cycle of abuse! She has a beautiful daughter Allia. Shannta is now focused on protecting and loving her daughter and providing a safe household for Allia to grow up in. |
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Photography by: Pat Rogers |
Project Nightlight is currently raising funds to produce a documentary of the social care process that takes place after abuse is reported. The film will include interviews with those who are directly involved in abuse; social workers, law enforcement, and if possible, foster children themselves. We will capture both the ups and downs of social care, situations for a child to look out for and where children can go for help if it all goes wrong. We hope that by giving children more information about their rights and the social process that they will have more confidence in the system and ultimately be more likely to report their abuse. We also plan to highlight resources available that can assist children in coping with abuse even if they aren't ready to report it, such as support groups and confidential hot lines.
In the meantime...
We are currently organizing volunteer guest speakers and after school programs for Los Angeles schools. We are looking for people with careers in art, film, music, apparel or the sports industry to come in and speak to students.
