In 2004, the United States’ first problem-solving court around prostitution was created in Queens County, New York. The court presided over by the Honorable Toko Serita, attempts to redress the way women and young girls arrested for prostitution are shuffled through the criminal justice system. With unparalleled access to the workings of the court, “Blowin’ Up” captures what it feels like to go through these criminal proceedings as a female defendant. The overwhelming majority of women arrested are undocumented Asian immigrants, black, Latina and transgender youth. We hear directly from these women, in their own words, and we begin to understand the complex scenarios that bring them into the courtroom. As the film progresses, and a new administration takes over in the White House in 2016, the courtroom’s fragile ecosystem is tested and the fates of those who pass through become less certain.
The film’s director, Stephanie Wang-Breal, is an award-winning filmmaker, commercial director and co-founder of the independent production company, Once in a Blue Films. “Blowin’ Up,” her third feature-length film, had its World Premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2018 and was awarded the Best Documentary Feature award at the San Diego Asian Film Festival. Her first film, Wo Ai Ni Mommy (I Love You, Mommy), was nominated for an Emmy®, and was the recipient of three Grand Jury Best Documentary Awards at the AFI/ Discovery Silverdocs Film Festival, the Asian American International Film Festival and the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, as well as a 2011 CINE Special Jury Award. The film had its national television broadcast in 2010 on the award-winning PBS series POV. Stephanie’s second film, Tough Love, premiered at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in April 2014. The film premiered on PBS’ POV in July 2015. Stephanie has also directed commercials and branded content for Planned Parenthood, Minwax, ESPN, Vocativ, Verifone, Tiffany & Co., Apple, Nickelodeon, Goldman Sachs, UNICEF, CNN, A&E Television and MTV Networks. Stephanie is represented commercially by the good guys at Good Company. Stephanie currently sits on the Board of the New York Women’s Foundation and resides in Brooklyn, New York with her son & daughter.
Toko Serita is an Asian-American judge who is recognized as a leading judicial expert on human trafficking. She is currently a New York StateActing Supreme Court Justice who presides over three problem-solving courts in Queens Criminal Court – a drug court, mental health court and the Queens Human Trafficking Intervention Court (QHTIC), which is nationally and internationally recognized for its groundbreaking work with trafficking victims and survivors. This court, originally started in 2004 by Justice Fernando Camacho, was expanded in 2008 under the leadership of Justice Serita to respond to the arrests of trafficking victims on prostitution-related charges who were often overlooked in the criminal justice system. Working with a multidisciplinary collaborative team, the QHTIC serves approximately 600 women and transgender individuals a year to provide comprehensive, culturally competent, trauma-informed intervention and services as an alternative-to-incarceration. The QHTIC served as the model for this nation’s first statewide initiative which established a series of similar courts throughout New York State, bringing the total number to eleven courts which handle about 95% of the prostitution-related cases in this state.
Justice Serita regularly speaks on this topic and is involved with statewide training and policy, working alongside the NYS Office of Court Administration’s Office of Policy & Planning. She is also the Chair of the New York State Judicial Committee on Human Trafficking, whose judicial members represent all of the trafficking intervention courts, and is the author of “In Our Own Backyards: The Need for a Coordinated Judicial Response to Human Trafficking,” which was published in the NYU Review of Law and Social Change (2013). Prior to becoming a judge, Justice Serita was the Executive Assistant to two Administrative Judges of the Supreme Court, Queens County – the late Hon. Steven W. Fisher, and the Hon. Leslie G. Leach. She also worked as an appellate attorney for the Criminal Appeals Bureau, Legal Aid Society, from 1989-1999. She currently sits on the board of the National Center for State Courts and was most recently the former president of the Asian American Judges Association of New York (AAJANY), of which she is a co-founder. She is a graduate of Vassar College and City University of New York School of Law and is married to Paul R. Lewis.
“Blowin’ Up” will be released theatrically in New York April 5th and in Los Angeles April 12th
