On Wednesday, April 14, Bookmans Phoenix presents the Showtime documentary "Very Young Girls" starting at 5:30 p.m. This documentary chronicles the journey of several young women through the underground world of exploitation in New York City. Join moderator, Karlie Hustle, for this free and insightful film screening followed by a discussion of the documentary. This film does contain mature themes and viewer discretion is advised.

The film follows the barely-adolescent girls in real time, using vérité and intimate interviews with them as they are first lured on to the streets and the dire events which follow. The film also uses startling footage shot by the brazen pimps themselves giving a rare glimpse into how the cycle of street life begins for many women.

The film identifies hope for these girls in the organization GEMS (Girls Education and Mentoring Services), a recovery center founded and run by Rachel Lloyd, herself a survivor of sexual exploitation. She and her staff are heroic and relentless in their mission to help girls sent by the court or found on the street. Given a chance to piece their lives back together, many will teeter on edge of two different worlds consistently battling the force that will suck them back into the underground.

Directed by David Schisgall and Nina Alvarez, the movie's unprecedented access to girls and pimps will change the way law enforcement, the media and society as a whole look at sexual exploitation, street prostitution and the human trafficking that is happening right in our own backyard.

You can read the New York Times' review of the film here: Children Withouth Childhoods