As many as 2.8 million children live on the streets. One out of every three will be lured into prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home.

Set in Seattle, Washington, The Long Night, by Tim Matsui and MediaStorm, gives voice and meaning to the crisis of minors who are forced and coerced into the American sex trade. The film weaves together the stories of those whose lives have been forever changed by this issue.

“I’ve never seen more vulnerable, more open people,” said editor and producer Tim McLaughlin. “They’ve managed to articulate this situation in ways that are so human and so open. We didn’t intend to make a feature film, but the issues, the moments, and the importance of what Matsui captured warranted it. It’s not an issue-based story. It’s the human experience of this issue.”

The Long Night was made possible by the generous support of the Alexia Foundation and the organization’s Women Initiative grant.

“Making this film has been a really important part of MediaStorm’s evolution,” said Brian Storm, Executive Producer and Founder of MediaStorm. “Not only is it our first feature-length film, it’s a film that we’ve created with great partners – Tim Matsui and the Alexia Foundation. We are deeply committed to telling this story in a way that has a lasting impact.”

You can track the development of this project on Tim Matsui’s blog series “Leaving the Life.”