Free the Girls | Enigma of Time
“I’m just a no away from prostitution.”
Client: Free the Girls
Executive Producer: Tanya Martineau
Producer: Van Dinh
Director: Tanya Martineau
Writer: Emma LeMay
Survivor Consultant: Jean Nangwala
DP: Gabriel Serra Arguello
AC/Gaffer: Nicoa Rios
Editor: Andres Vazquez
Assistant Editor: Frankie Tejeda
The Challenge
How do you tell a story about exploitation without exploiting the storyteller?
Grettal survived more than four decades on the streets. She is not a stereotype. Not a headline. She is a sharp entrepreneur and a woman who understands survival from the inside.
The challenge was to hold complexity - to confront simplified media portrayals of pimps and madams, and to explore generational and psychological trauma without sensationalizing it.
To tell the truth with dignity.
The Film
The Enigma of Time unfolds non-linearly - because trauma is not linear. Past and present blur. Memory interrupts. Growth moves forward, backward, then forward again.
The film resists redemption arcs and easy conclusions. Instead, it invites the audience to sit in the tension of survival - and to reconsider who they extend empathy to.
Our Approach
We chose restraint over spectacle.
A non-linear structure mirrors lived experience. Silence carries weight. The camera listens more than it asks.
Grettal leads. We follow.