OKEMOS - Community groups came together with filmmakers to host the local screening of "Break the Chain", a documentary providing a look into human trafficking in Michigan at Studio C! Thursday. This event was a red carpet affair.

The film features real survivors of human trafficking, both labor and sexual. Kwami Adoboe, a child survivor of labor trafficking, was enslaved for nearly five years with three other children in Ypsilanti, Michigan, before anyone noticed. Debbie, a survivor of sex trafficking, explains her experience of being sold for sex around the Detroit area between the ages of 13 and 18.

“I didn’t identify myself as a victim,” said Debbie, one of the survivors featured in the film. “I was always told that it was my choice, that I wanted to be there. And so, after a while, you start believing it.”

Accompanying the stories of survivors are interviews from researchers, lawyers, activists, senators, pimps and officers.

"I think we need to reach out to DHHS (Department of Health and Human Services), show this film to them and show them there are kids in this situation they need to do their job and help us get a better life rather than just trying to do an investigation that turns into pain for us later down the road," said Adoboe, labor trafficking survivor.

Director of the film, Laura Swanson, has hopes of collaborating with universities to show the film and educate people about how prominent the crime is.