The Price of Sex 

A documentary film by Mimi Chakarova

The Price of Sex is a feature-length documentary about young Eastern European women who’ve been drawn into a netherworld of sex trafficking and abuse. Intimate, harrowing and revealing, it is a story told by the young women who were supposed to be silenced by shame, fear and violence. Photojournalist Mimi Chakarova, who grew up in Bulgaria, takes us on a personal investigative journey, exposing the shadowy world of sex trafficking from Eastern Europe to the Middle East and Western Europe. Filming undercover and gaining extraordinary access, Chakarova illuminates how even though some women escape to tell their stories, sex trafficking thrives.

“The result of [Chakarova's] courageous efforts is a film that shines the light full blast on the dark crimes of sex slavery, particularly those perpetuated on Eastern European women... and throughout the areas of the world that both supply and demand this horrific skin trade.”

—Huffington Post

Mimi Chakarova

Mimi Chakarova, a Bulgarian-American photojournalist and filmmaker, has covered global issues examining conflict, corruption and the sex trade. Her film "The Price of Sex," a feature-length documentary on trafficking and corruption was awarded the Nestor Almendros Award for courage in filmmaking at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in New York. She was also the winner of the prestigious Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting and a Dart Awards Finalist for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma. Chakarova continued on to direct, shoot and produce two other feature films, completed by her own production company, A MOMENT IN TIME PRODUCTIONS. "Men: A Love Story" premiered at the renowned Telluride Film Festival in 2016. Chakarova is currently directing "Still I Rise," a documentary series of short films that honors those striving for dignity and justice. Mimi Chakarova is the recipient of the Dorothea Lange Fellowship and the Magnum Photos Inge Morath Award for her documentary work. Other awards include a People's Voice Webby, as well as a nomination for a News & Documentary Emmy Award. Chakarova's work has appeared in National Geographic, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, Ms., The Sunday Times Magazine, London, CBS News' "60 Minutes," CNN World, BBC World, Al Jazeera English, PBS' FRONTLINE/World and the Center for Investigative Reporting among others. (07/19)

Chakarova taught visual storytelling at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism for 14 years. She has also taught at Stanford University's African and African American Studies and Comparative Studies for Race and Ethnicity. (07/19)