Mischa Marcus: A Passionate Storyteller

All over the United States, and the world, the threat of child sex trafficking looms. 

The signs aren’t often easy to spot, and there is no typical profile for a perpetrator or a victim. Yet if one remains on the lookout for the subtle signs, such as a tendency for an adult to remain physically close to the accompanying children and an insistence on speaking for them, and informs law enforcement, they could help that child escape a shortened life of abuse. 

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That was a message Los Angeles screenwriter and director Mischa Marcus sought to emphasize in her debut and award-winning feature film, “I Am Still Here,” which was shown to the public Wednesday night at Lake Area Technical Institute. The movie’s screening was sponsored by the Watertown Initiative to Prevent Sex Trafficking (WIPST). 

“That’s the thing about sex trafficking. It doesn’t discriminate based on age, race or gender,” Marcus told the Public Opinion Wednesday afternoon. Inspired to create the film after reading about the police raid of a brothel trafficking victims as young as nine years old near where she went to college in Orange County, Calif., in 2010, Marcus created a composite character, Layla, out of 20 real victim stories. 

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Set over a period of seven years, the movie follows Layla from the age of 10, when she is first abducted at a park, to 17, when she is rescued. According to Marcus, the timeline adheres closely to the lifespan of the average sex trafficking victim. 

“They say if a girl doesn’t get out within eight years, she’ll usually be killed. They have to be rescued before that,” Marcus said. “The idea (of this movie) was to make it so it emphasized that it could happen to anyone in an American family because it can.” 

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While no violence and sexual assault involving children is explicitly shown, only implied, Marcus sought to make the movie an uncomfortable experience for the viewer so they at least had an idea of what the world of sex trafficking is like. 

“You really can’t sugarcoat this kind of subject matter.

It’s a very visceral and immersive experience. The whole thing feels claustrophobic, almost like you’re being trafficked with the girls,” Marcus said. “I have gotten people to come up to me after they’ve seen it and tell me it’s disturbing. My reaction is always, ‘Good. If it disturbs you, then maybe it will make you want to do something about it.’ People live in this world. It’s not a movie they get to walk away from.”

For as disturbing as the final product came out to be, Marcus and other adults involved in the production made sure the set atmosphere was anything but for the children. When not filming, Johnny Rey Diaz, who plays the trafficker Ricky, played games and told jokes to the kids. Parents also read the script before allowing their children to become involved in the production. 

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“The children didn’t know what we were depicting when we filmed. We were very careful to protect them,” Marcus said. 

Based on the accolades, Marcus and everyone involved successfully walked the fine line of creating an impactful and disturbing movie without falling into bad taste. Having been shown in 50 film festivals, “I Am Still Here” garnered a Best Picture award at the Nice International Film Festival in France and Best Drama Feature at the I Will Tell Human Rights Film Festival. Best actor awards were also part of the film’s 35-award haul. 

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“I didn’t know how people were going to respond to this,” Marcus said. “I knew it was going to be a film that could potentially anger a lot of people. But I’ve always been under the impression that being angry kind of lights a fire in my belly so it makes me want to do something. My goal was to always make people want to do something too.” 

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