![]() ![]() Much later, after spending a year in Indiana and living in New York for more than a decade, I’d seen how prominent trafficking is – and not just the trafficking of foreign girls into the U.S., but also domestically – I wanted to find my way of bringing what was right under our noses into the common consciousness. Anna Gutto with Desiree Wood of REAL Women in Trucking. The reality of trafficking happening right under my nose stayed with me, and it made me conscious of not turning a blind eye, but wanting to be aware of what I was seeing. I might even have seen some of the girls. I had probably seen guys coming and going. While my friends and I had been listening to music and sharing our hopes and dreams of all the great things we would do in our lives, just a few apartments below, girls my age had been forced to have sex with strangers. But still, right under my nose, girls had been trafficked. It turned out there had been a brothel right there. Later, when I was around 17, there was a police bust in my friend’s building. There had to be something more to the story. I didn’t believe those girls had made that choice. I had heard about prostitution, but what he said just didn’t make sense to me. He didn’t have a good answer, but said something about how some people choose to sell their bodies. ![]() They looked out of place, so I asked my dad what they were doing there. Down a side street, I noticed girls standing around in skimpy clothes. (Photo courtesy Lionsgate.)įirst, when I was only about 10 or 11, I was walking to the ferry dock with my dad in the city where I grew up. Hala Finley and Juliette Binoche in Anna Gutto’s Paradise Highway. Someone who maybe could’ve done something. Twice as a child, I had to confront the reality of trafficking. The initial seeds of this story were sown many years ago. Meanwhile, a dogged FBI agent (Morgan Freeman) sets out to bring down a human-trafficking ring – and bring Sally and Leila to safety. It centers on Sally (Juliette Binoche), a truck driver who reluctantly agrees to smuggle illicit cargo – a girl named Leila (Hala Finley) – in order to save the life of her brother (Frank Grillo). My feature debut, Paradise Highway, portrays a female trucker and deals with aspects of human trafficking. Stories have helped us develop as a species since the beginning of time, and they still continue to be essential in our lives. I usually feel at a loss for how, but I hold onto the enduring power of stories. Because, even if we turn away, the pain is still there, and I’d rather look so that maybe I can find a way to help. Or maybe I’ve chosen to be unafraid to look at what many people choose to turn away from, even when it hurts to look. (In fact, I’ve been wearing contact lenses since I was 12…) But I guess I’m just a little more fascinated with what others pass by. I don’t see any more than most people do. Writer-director Anna Gutto with lead actress Juliette Binoche during the making of Paradise Highway. ![]() “How come you notice these people, these stories?” a colleague asked me once. And what takes form are thrilling narratives that I would love to see on the screen. And then, when I do dig into them, a whole universe opens up and rich environments and strong characters come to the surface. It’s not because I’m trying to be unique or important – it’s simply because I find these stories exciting to dig into. I tend to be attracted to stories about underexposed issues, or characters we’re not used to seeing on screen. Stories can highlight what we know and see, but have become unable do anything about. What I like about storytelling is that it helps us see what’s hiding in plain sight. Anna also directs commercials and music videos. Mommy Heist was bought by FR3 and is currently broadcast in the Courte Libre program. Her short film A Lucky Man is a Sloan Foundation winner and her short films have been playing festivals and gathering awards internationally and domestically. green card holder, she relocated from New York to Los Angeles the same year. She received her MFA in Film Directing at Columbia University, where she graduated with Honors in 2016. Norway-born screenwriter and director Gutto started her career in the theater, earning accolades such as “universally excellent” in The New York Times. ![]() Anna co-directed on the successful 2019 Netflix series Home for Christmas and in 2020, Anna initiated Kids Speak Up, a project for kids and families to join the anti-racism movement. Anna Gutto‘s feature film debut as writer-director, Paradise Highway, starring Juliette Binoche, Frank Grillo, Cameron Monaghan, Hala Finley and Morgan Freeman, is playing in select theaters from July 29. ![]()
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