Mary Mazzio is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, Olympic athlete, and former law firm partner. She is the Founder and CEO of 50 Eggs, Inc., an independent film production company. Her credits include “The Apple Pushers,” “TEN9EIGHT,” and “A Hero for Daisy.” Mazzio’s most recent film, “Underwater Dreams,” was screened at the White House, and to date has raised over $100 million dollars in public and private partnerships for STEM Education.
“I Am Jane Doe” opens in select theaters February 10.
W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.
MM: “I Am Jane Doe,” narrated by Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain, chronicles the epic battle that several American mothers are waging on behalf of their middle-school daughters, victims of sex trafficking on Backpage.com, the adult classifieds section that for years was part of the iconic Village Voice.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
MM: I did not learn about the breadth and scope of child sex trafficking in this country until a few years ago when I read about Doe v. Backpage, which was a case in Boston filed by three children, aged 14–15 years old, against Backpage. They were seeking the opportunity to litigate whether and to what extent Backpage was responsible for the harm they suffered by virtue of being bought and sold online.
This is not a crime that affects a child here and there. It affects thousands and thousands of children in this country. It is a human rights violation that is swept under the rug.
W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?
MM: Two thoughts. First, given that technology has outpaced what is an outdated legal system and regulatory framework, what changes in the law can be made to better protect children against online child sex trafficking?
Second, how are children exploited in the first instance and why are numbers on the rise?
We are working on an animated short, “Little Red,” which is an eight-minute short produced by the Academy Award winners of last year’s Best Animated Short, and written by Alec Sokolow, me, and eight children who are survivors of child sex trafficking. The project will address the four major tactics that pimps and traffickers use to prey upon children.
W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
MM: We originally started out with a film concept that focused heavily on the lawyers involved in this fight, particularly as the attorneys for Backpage continued to outmaneuver legal skirmishes on several fronts. And then I met the children involved. And their mothers. That was a game-changer.
I was able to bear witness to their courage in real time. These children risked revealing their identities, not only with the film, but with these lawsuits which would require their testimony at some point inside of a courtroom. And in their search to hold every participant involved in the crime accountable, including the website which advertised their children, these mothers used their pain and grief to create forward momentum on behalf of those who could not speak. And it became incumbent upon me to elevate the reach of their voices and their stories. “I Am Jane” became their story, and that of their children.
W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.
MM: This is an independent production. Our key funders include Linda Cabot and the Angel Foundation, John H. Carlson, Joanna Creamer and JEB Charitable, Julie Fisher Cummings and the Lovelight Foundation, Sue Wagner, and Lorna Auerbach.
W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?
MM: Best advice was from my mother, who said, “You can cry for a day after you fail. But then you have pick yourself up and get back up to the plate.” I live by that motto. Also — she had a second gem. We grew up with no money, and when I graduated from college and was looking for a job, she said, “It’s OK to valet park every once in a while. If you feel like a winner, you’ll act like a winner.”
As for the worst piece of advice? Anything that didn’t allow for me to trust my gut.
W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?
MM: 1. Don’t be afraid to ask. The worst that can happen is that someone says no. And that no is only “no” for one second in time. Three months later, a year later, ten years later, that no could be a yes. 2. Don’t forget to follow up with people who have given you a no.
W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.
MM: There are so many, but as a former athlete, I have always loved Gurinder Chadha’s “Bend It Like Beckham.” And I am a big Kathryn Bigelow fan.
