Secret Life, Secret Death: Film and Discussion
Genevieve Davis | September 10 | 2:45 - 3:45 PM | Room Ingman
In this true story of SECRET LIFE, SECRET DEATH, a young mother makes some heartbreaking choices that land her and her little son in the Mob in the Roaring 20's. In rapid-fire succession, Minnie went from a thrilling romance to being an abandoned mother to being trafficked to Chicago. Once in the Chicago underworld of criminals and human parasites, Minnie and her young son live high off the hog one day and scrape the bottom of the barrel the next.
Minnie and her son's unglamorized, tragic, true crime story is played out amongst infamous gangsters like Al Capone and John Dillinger. Filmmaker and Author Genevieve Davis narrates the film and the book, leading the audience through an incredible search to discover the true, tragic story of her Grandmother's life. Her commentary is frank, wry and revealing.
As Minnie's real life Granddaughter, Author and Filmmaker Genevieve Davis witnessed firsthand the effects of human trafficking in her own family, without actually understanding what it was or where it came from. As a child, Davis was kept in the dark as to the secret life of her Grandmother. Her father revealed that he was taken by his mother to Chicago Gangster Big Jim Colosimo's funeral when he was 5 years old compelled her to search for the truth about their life in Chicago.
Davis extensively researched the true story of SECRET LIFE, SECRET DEATH over a period of 10 years. She pieced together the real story of what happened to her Grandmother, relentlessly searching in archives, libraries, family letters and photo albums, and undertaking road trips to conduct eye witness interviews. Davis found, at the heart of the tragic story, the source of her family's pain.
OBJECTIVES:
1) To explore the traumatic effects of trafficking on the mental health of the victim.
2) To explore the mental health of the child whose mother is trafficked. And to explore how those effects manifest as the child grows to adulthood and how the quality of life as an adult is affected.
3) To explore the role of alcoholism and addiction in trafficking, and how that legacy is passed on to children.