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Could be that you gave them one of the first opportunities to really talk about it?

Dillon: Maybe that's true. It's a start. I think we're just a piece, just one dot in this huge matrix that needs to be built. There's been a lot of movements that history does not remember because they failed; we only remember the ones that worked. This is a movement of justice and compassion and mercy, but it has to be built like a matrix, with many, many pieces. Because we don't live in a singular world anymore. We're fractioned out and we're viral and we're all over the place—much the way this film was created.

That's how this movement is happening. It's a bunch of passionate people who don't know how to connect, other than doing what they already know how to do, and they'll give toward something because they know that it's right and it's good. And then eventually all those little pieces come together and make something—hopefully a movement.

There are many people who are working on this tirelessly who don't realize that they really are making a movement. But it could fail. It could fall on its face. So it needs people to pick it up and run with it as hard as they can if it's going to sustain energy, because we lose attention just as quickly as we can gain passion for something.

Any particular wow moment while making the film that especially moved you?

Dillon: There were a number of them, but I will tell you one moment where we all lost it. It was in the editing process, a year and a half into this thing. I thought I had seen it all. I'd read all the books. I'd talked to all the people. You just kind of get, not hardened, but to the point where you're just not that surprised by anything anymore.

The poster looks into a victim's eyes

We were placing some footage into the film, some undercover footage of these young girls who are being solicited for sex. They're probably six or eight years old. I had seen this footage before, but always with their faces blurred—as it is in the film—to protect their identity. But in this particular footage, their faces weren't blurred. That's what made all of us lose it, because there's something about the eyes that tells a story of the soul.

When you look into a victim's eyes, it's almost as if they've told you their whole story, if you pay attention. So when we looked into the eyes of these girls that are trapped in these brothels and being solicited for sex, it reminded us of what we were doing. And we were just absolutely devastated. Again.

You can get so wrapped up in the sexiness and the coolness of justice that you forget who it is that you're fighting for. Because, let's be honest, there's self-interests in everything, even in worship. And there's certainly self-interests in the fight for justice. But every so often we're brought back to those moments where you have look into the eyes of the person you're helping and realize, I'm nothing.

So, in the end, what's your hope for Call + Response?

Dillon: Just the obvious pieces. That the film is built to become an activist piece. We're giving away all of the proceeds and all of the attention. So we're building a forum online where people can "Be the Response," where we're getting people connected to groups and giving them an opportunity to find their own response.

For more info, including theater listings and how to get involved in the fight against human trafficking, go to callandresponse.com.

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