“Call+Response,” a documentary film that goes undercover to expose the global slave trade, will be shown at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 16, at Whitefish Middle School Auditorium.

Sponsors of the event are the Flathead Abolitionist Movement, Whitefish CARE and Soroptimist International of Whitefish.

Admission to the film is free.

According to the film, an estimated 27 million people worldwide are held in compelled service. January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.

The U.S. State Department estimates as many as 17,500 slaves are trafficked into this country every year.

Diane Yarus, a member of the Soroptimist International Club of Kalispell who has taken a leadership role in trafficking awareness, said most slaves are kidnapped or coerced out of poor neighborhoods and forced to work as prostitutes, labor camp and factory workers, domestic servants and soldiers.

Yarus and others created the Flathead Abolitionist Movement last year to inform the public about human trafficking and to highlight abolition work and victim assistance organizations.

“Call+Response” features actors Julia Ormond, Ashley Judd and Daryl Hannah, former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof, civil rights luminary Dr. Cornel West and others. From the child brothels of Cambodia to the slave brick kilns of rural India, they offer firsthand accounts of the modern-day slave trade.

Award-winning musicians Switchfoot, Moby, Natasha Bedingfield, Five For Fighting, Cold War Kids, Matisyahu, Emmanuel Jal, Imogen Heap, Talib Kweli and members of Nickel Creek and Rocco DeLuca lend their voices and songs to the cause.

This one-time-only screening in Whitefish was arranged to raise community awareness of this growing problem worldwide, including the United States.

The documentary is rated PG-13. For more information visit www.callandresponse.com.

 The director of “Call+Response,” musician Justin Dillon, learned about modern-day slavery while performing in Russia. His translator, a young girl, told him about an exciting job promised to her in the West. He investigated and found it was a phony trick to trap the girl.

Upon returning to the United States, he decided to act.

“I was infuriated that here in the 21st century, there are people living as slaves, with no hope, no options and no future,” Dillon said.

The documentary is rated PG-13. For more information visit www.callandresponse.com.