Renata Ferraz & Maria Roxo | Portugal/Brazil | 2022 | 84 min | Portuguese with English subtitles
Rua dos Anjos (Rising Sun Blues) is a film built upon the encounter and shared film creation of two women.They narrate and witness personal stories while exchanging certain techniques of their respective crafts: sex work and filmmaking. In this scenario, they simultaneously become filmmakers and characters.
A realistic look into the lives and relationships between sex workers and their family members. The documentary profiles four families who share about the struggles that got them where they are today and the unconditional love that allowed them to heal together.
Strip
Kateřina Turečková | Czech Republic | 2015 | 10 min | Czech with English subtitles
An intimate look into the relationship of two girls. One is a stripper and the other has a problem with it.
Sexarbeit und Beziehung (Sex Work and Relationship)
Aaron und Pauli | Germany&Austria |2020 & 2021 | 27 min | German with English subtitles
Us sex workers have relationships and lovers just as other human beings. But often we find ourselves in situations where we have to educate our partners or are confronted with stereotypes regarding our work. This video is contributing to the reduction of prejudices and aims to support sex workers and their loved ones in being more open about the topic. We are autonomous people who made the choice to do sex work out of our own free will. Sexwork is work! Respect!
Oubliette
Charly Flyte | UK | 2023 | 9 min | English
In a glittering womb-like London dungeon, a dominatrix shares countless moments of seductive and sadistic kink with a regular client. But her head is somewhere else. As her routine repeats, session by session, she is triggered with memories and haunting flashbacks. With studded heels, whips and chains, she wonders whether her power is quite where it seems.
Content warning: BDSM, implied themes of coercion and abusive relationships
Every Day Burns
Aidan Jung & Tyler Murgo | USA | 2020 | 5 min | English
Award winning pole dancer, Sada Velasquez, addresses the familial and social stigma she must overcome in order to pursue her passion for dance. Everyday Burns is a short documentary exploring one artist’s journey towards self expression and community empowerment. Every day Sada overcomes physical limitations, personal doubts and moral perceptions of others in order to create a safe space for folks to explore their sensual freedom.
Indélébile/Graffiti Politique
Deep and Cheap Media & Equipe Ephemere | France | 2021 | 7 min | French with English subs
Paris, 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, a social movement is raging. A feminist graffiti activist group prepares an action for the respect of whores.
Content warning: These films contain sexual contact and strong language.
An exploration into the healing powers of sex work from both client and sex worker perspectives. Through the first episode of this reality-focused and nuanced docuseries we will help millions of individuals better understand the complexity and diversity of sex work, recognize the harmful impact of existing laws, and change the way we talk about criminality, sex and consent. We aim to educate, raise awareness, and build an audience we can mobilize to defend the rights of sex workers across the country.
Intimity
Elodie Dermange | CH | 2017 | 5 min | English
As she is showering, dressing, putting on her make-up, a woman bares her porn-loving soul. She speaks of her fears, her complexes, and the process of accepting – even loving – herself.
Stripped
Jevon Boreland | Canada | 2018 | 10 min | English
Forget everything you heard and enter the world that many know of but know very little about. STRIPPED is the personal, untold story of Phylicia Carty, also known as Mz Lady Ice, whose life took her in the direction of becoming one of the most revolutionary urban exotic dancers in the Toronto adult entertainment industry. The enticing documentary showcases the struggles and triumphs that come with being a female stripper in a contemporary world that is now gaining mainstream acceptance.
Cupid Into Transmutation
Dexter Boldewijn | NL | 2022 | 13 min | English
The edgy and personal student film Cupid into Transmutation follows a transgender boy named Caesar living in a big city. On the run from his traumatic past, he tries to make a living as a camboy. Until he is suddenly sent into hysteria as his body starts to violently morph and transform beyond all recognition. Follow him in his search for acceptance and identity in this cruel world, focused on normality and outer beauty.
Lizzy and Seyyah
Kristian Petersen | Germany | 2018 | 10 min | German with English subtitles
Lizzy and Seyyah fuck!
Positions
Justin Ducharme | Canada | 2018 | 12 min | English
A simple and naturalistic approach to a day in the life of a two-spirit, male sex worker as he visits his clients. Positions is an unapologetic and realist exploration of sexual desire, the quest for financial stability, and the pursuit of agency over one’s own body.
Happy Ending
Ara Choi | UK | 2018 | 5 min | English with subtitles
Happy Ending is a poetic animated documentary based on an anonymous online testimony of a Korean sex worker. She is forced to have her body used by others for their own pleasure. She suffers. However, she explores her body and desire to abolish social prejudices against sex workers.
Content warning: These films contain sexual contact and strong language.
Roberta Torre | Italy | 75 min | 2022 | Italian with English subtitles
It often happens that after death trans women are deprived of their identity. That’s what happened to Antonia, too. Her friends gather to invoke her, in an attempt to give Antonia her denied femininity.
Gisela Delgadillo / Mexico / 2022 / 88′ / Spanish with English subtitles
After witnessing the murder of her friend, Kenya, a trans woman sex worker, embarks on a path of struggle and search for justice that leads her to face the fear and pain of seeing herself reflected in that tragic ending.
Papaya Kuir is an intersectional feminist collective for and by trans and queer Latinx asylum seekers, refugees and migrants in the Netherlands. Musicians, performers, writers and artists. They chose a name that re-introduces the use of the word papaya (slang for female genital tract in several Latin American countries) and Kuir which is a corruption of the word queer, a nickname with a twist.
Through their fundraising campaigns they want to be that bridge that connects human beings in need with those who can provide help. Through their art projects they want to show the world that they are more than just migrants and refugees, they are also talented people. And through their visibility they want The Netherlands to know that Latinx queers exist and that this country need to look at them too, that they matter, that their voices count and must be heard!
Paola Revenioti | Greece | 2020 | 67min | Greek with English subtitles
Paola, Betty and Eva are three trans* women in their 60s who have known each other for more than forty years. All three of them started making their living early in their youth as sex workers in Athens, Greece. In “The Oleanders” Betty Vakalidou, Eva Koumarianou and Paola Revenioti revisit all the different places in the city where they used to work, socialize, get harassed or arrested by the cops, fight for their rights, have fun and find love. The unapologetic, humorous, and empowering discussion of Eva, Betty and Paola is a history of Athens as well as a history of desire, gender and sexualities of the Mediterranean region and beyond.
