A Documentary About Her Life

Her story, and the events that took place during and after her trial, that filmmaker, Daniel Birman, decided to make a documentary about her life. He named it, “Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story,” which was released in 2011. He explained in his film how Cyntoia, her mom and even her grandmother were all victims of rape. He shares, “This is a young girl who’s at the tail end of three generations of violence against women. She had no chance.”

Getting The Word Out

Birman’s documentary made such a stir that Tennessee ended up changing its laws on children below the age of 18, making it so they cannot be charged with prostitution, because in reality, it should really be considered child trafficking. Even Derri Smith, the Founder of End Slavery TN, said, “[There’s] no such thing as child prostitute or a teen prostitute. I think we’ve had to have a cultural mind shift.”