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Palomar College Film Shines Light On Sex Trafficking Survivors

By Anica Colbert / Gloria Penner Fellow & Assistant Producer, Ebone Monet / Speak City Heights Reporter

Published March 28, 2019 at 2:23 PM PDT

This story was published more than 5 years ago.

"Shattered Dreams" Director Bill Wisneski and survivor Jaimee Johnson sat down with KPBS Evening Edition Host Ebone Monet in the KPBS Studios to talk about the new film, March 28, 2019.

A student film produced at Palomar College has been accepted into the Manhattan Film Festival. "Shattered Dreams: Sex Trafficking in America," is a documentary featuring three survivors of sex trafficking. The film and trailer also won an award of excellence from the Accolade Global Film Competition.

The film will debut at Palomar College on April 4. The premiere will include panel discussions about sex trafficking with San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan and the film’s director Bill Wisneski.

“[The film] is trying to shed light on this issue, which is so complex and a lot of people don’t really understand. There’s so many misconceptions about it," Wisneski said. "One of our biggest challenges was trying to find women who were willing to share their story. We were really lucky. That’s what made our film. Jamiee and the two other women who were able to share the insight of what they have been through and the power of turning their lives around and what can happen."

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Jaimee Johnson, founder of Sisters of the Streets, is one of the women featured in the film. She and Bill Wisneski sat down with KPBS Evening Edition host Ebone Monet to talk about the film.

Palomar College Film Crew Gives Voice To Survivors Of Sex Trafficking In A New Documentary

KPBS Evening Edition

Anica Colbert

Anica Colbert formerly served as an assistant producer for KPBS Evening Edition. Anica also aided in producing the daily podcast, San Diego News Matters and getting KPBS content to the NPR One app for local audio on demand. Previously, she worked at WGCU in Fort Myers, Florida, as a TV master control operator and TV production assistant. She moved to San Diego in 2015 to work for KFMB Channel 8 as a broadcast engineer. She later worked for iHeartmedia’s KOGO 600 AM as a technical director, and part-time producer for the KOGO Evening News Hour. Anica majored in journalism at Florida Gulf Coast University in her hometown of Fort Myers. She also interned with ESPN 3’s TV production of live college basketball for the FGCU’s Eagles.

Ebone Monet

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Ebone Monet is a San Diego native and University of California, Los Angeles graduate. Ebone is veteran journalist who came to KPBS from RTV6 in Indianapolis, Indiana. There she covered major international events such as the Indy 500 and Super Bowl XLVI. She also reported extensively on the Circle City's rising murder rate. Ebone Monet was on the ground reporting as hundreds of people evacuated the Richmond Hill subdivision following a deadly home explosion. Prior to her work in Indianapolis Ebone was a reporter for KTHV in Little Rock, Arkansas. Some of the major stories she covered included devastating natural disasters, search-and-rescue effort following the 2010 flash floods that killed 20 people in the Ouachita National Forest. In addition Ebone reported on the 2008 Super Tuesday tornado outbreak and recovery efforts.

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