Filmmaker Guy Jacobson and The K11 Project Battle Child Prostitution

On December 4, I interviewed Mr. Guy Jacobson by phone about the new film, Holly, the K11 Project, and the grassroots organization, The Redlight Children Campaign. 

While traveling through Cambodia in 2002, New York investment banker Guy Jacobson was approached for sex by about fifteen 5- to 7-year-old girls and witnessed first hand the realities of the sex slave industry. At a time when they should have been in school, kindergarten or first grade, learning the basics of language and math and fundamental social skills, these children were soliciting Mr. Jacobson for sex. One of the girls told him, in broken English, "I yum yum very good." The term yum yum means oral sex. After answering her with a no, she tells him, "I no money today, Mama-san boxing me." He gave the little girls a few dollars to take to the brothel owner so that she would not beat them and knew that he needed to act.

After a year and a half of research and being horrified by the realization of how widespread this problem is, he decided to utilize his production company, Priority Films, to make a film from the point of view of the victim. "Holly is really a compilation of a number of the children I met and spoke with in the brothels." From there he went back to the brothels of Cambodia and gathered information, talking to the workers and customers, under the guise of being a customer himself.

Mr. Jacobson, who served three years in the Israeli military, admits that the four to five weeks spent in the brothels was not the smartest of ideas. A year later, he started writing the script. Jacobson wanted to stay away from the typical Hollywood melodrama. He said that writing the script was difficult, he wanted to make sure that it wasn’t preachy, that the film wasn’t too explicit, but maintaining a feel that was gripping and compelling, that it pulled audiences in, while not exploiting the subject matter.

In 2004, Jacobson and the film crew went to Cambodia to begin shooting. "We were stupid and didn’t realize how dangerous doing this film project in Cambodia was. As trafficking and child prostitution is very profitable business, there were many that would benefit tremendously if we didn’t make the film." The production, which includes the international cast of Ron Livingston, the late Chris Penn, Virginie Ledoyen, and Udo Kier, was challenged by the Chinese mafia, local organized crime, brothel owners, and the government, the police and the military, who wanted them to leave. The production had to be protected by over 40 guards with automatic weapons during the entire shoot. The film was shot in K11, the district notorious for its pedophilic offerings that the project took its name from. Many scenes were shot in actual brothels.

Critically acclaimed, Holly has been making its way through the film festival circuit, filling to capacity (and often overflowing) the venues in which it has been shown.

Article Author: Courtney Walker

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