Carmina & Prune | France | 2024 | 73 min | French with English subs
A compelling documentary led by online sex workers, giving us an intimate peek into their daily lives and guiding us behind the scenes. It demonstrates that adult platforms are not only a workplace but also a space of creativity and self-expression, in which many individuals thrive and develop new skills. This challenges the audience’s preconceived ideas and gives them a better understanding of this industry.
With the emergence of new subscription-based adult platforms like OnlyFans or MYM, it has become easier to create and sell adult content from a simple computer or smartphone. This content can range from the most ‘soft’ erotic nude photos to the most explicit pornographic videos. “Télétravail du sexe” (“Remote Sex Work”) is a documentary that gives a voice to online sex workers by following them in their daily lives, thus showing the behind-the-scenes reality. It reveals that adult platforms can be a space for creativity and body expression, where many people thrive daily and develop new professional skills that go far beyond what the general public imagines.
Whether one has chosen this profession out of passion or convenience, sex telework, like many other solitary and independent jobs, comes with its own joys and successes, and empowerment… But also with burnout, isolation, and alienation due to the judgment of others, performance and financial pressure — which is further reinforced by the stigma and censorship experienced on the Internet.
This film will be introduced by Papaya Kuir: a lesbo-trans – feminist collective created by and for Latin American migrants and refugees residing in the Netherlands and the allies in their struggle.
Raúl Vidales Bohórquez |Colombia, 2022, 92 minutes | Spanish with English subs
A hybrid feature film that blends documentary with fiction and approaches cinema as a ritual of symbolic transformation in the death experience of seven transwomen. The film’s testimonies, along with surreal and fantastic scenes, come together to narrate death viewed from different angles: as related to transfeminicides and as social death that seeks to nullify through exclusion and silence those seen as uncomfortable by others. The film also deals with the multiple deaths that we experience in life; death that speaks of resignations, of forgetfulness, of separations, of changes. “Every Time I Die” is an invitation to shake off mourning through delirious weeping or through sagacious bursts of laughter, with the aim of seeing death through the eyes of those who radiate life, celebrate life, and struggle for life.
Ronja Berg | Sweden | 2024 | 80 min | Swedish with English subs
A whore goddess in Heaven, a christian police and two sex workers in Sweden are affected in different ways by the whore stigma, when suddenly a mysterious asteroid connects their minds.
Please arriveon time, we will have a waitlist and will fill to capacity. Ticket holders that arrive after 22:30 may be turned away if we are at capacity.
"We roll out the red carpet for ourselves... whores on the move crack the old established world... a love letter to the sex worker community"
Sex workers from the Netherlands, Belgium, and France perform feats of splendour for our delight!
Dress code: we invite you to dress loudly to create an audience that is celebratory of the sex worker community(whatever that means to you). Cabaret, fetish, whore-ish finery is all welcome!
Sex Workers Who Changed History Fashion Show
By SAVE and Trans Sisters
We roll out the red carpet for ourselves, start the music and our historical fashion show begins! In the media, sex workers are usually depicted as victims, we tell the stories of heroes and heroines. Sex workers who rebelled, who fought for women and queer rights, who fought against slavery. Sex workers who made history!
Based on work by Dutch sex worker, historian and philosopher, Sietske Altink. Read more.
The Sex Workers History Fashion Show is an ongoing collaboration between SAVE and Trans Sisters. See their other scheduled performances here.
The Sewers of Heterosexuality
byMarianne Chargois
In the underground of the triumphant heterosexual world, dissidents develop autonomous economic systems, where toxic masculinities are expressed through alternative sexual practices. The sewers of heterosexuality are overflowing as armies of whores on the move crack the old established world.
[Organisers’ note: the performance takes place in front of a screen depicting images of Marianne’s work in medical BDSM)
Marianne Chargois is a sex worker since 20 years, an activist for sex workers rights through the collective STRASS in France until 2019 and since then through UTSOPI, Belgium. She is the creator of SNAP!, a sex worker festival, and co-organiser of the Brussels Porn Film Festival. She creates performances with materials from BDSM sessions with her clients, in a language that mixes political purpose, humor and obscene images.
Le Bal des Putes (The Hookers Ball)
by Kata Loba with Djombo Goddess, Olivia Verner, Malena and La Baphomette
This show is a 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘅 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆. Through 𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲, 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗱𝘆, we explore the 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆, the 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝘆𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗰𝘀 in human relationships and honor the fights for our rights. Le bal des putes is queer and feminist. It is a living art form halfway between play, documentary and cabaret.
Le bal des putes is first and foremost a series of personal accounts. These stories open the door to our worlds, our experiences and our intimacy. Through these stories, we can reappropriate a reality that concerns us all, and in so doing make up for opinions that are all too often stigmatising and uninformed. They are windows into our daily lives, where authenticity is our mainstay. Because we know how difficult it is to talk about sex work without being tempted to either glorify or condemn it.
We put ourselves on stage through a series of stories and real acts. We share our visions, our obsessions, our questions: What does a salary depend on? Why do we want to justify ourselves when we talk about it? What do we do with our bodies? How do we look at it and accept each other? What will happen when everyone knows that we are whores?
Our testimonies evoke the dynamics of power within sex work. How it is exercised over the body and sexuality, and how it can be the mouthpiece of our feminism. They also evoke the solidarity that exists in this milieu, the way we communicate, train and protect each other. They also evoke the moments that are dear to us, our victories and our joys, our passion and our dedication to this work, our suffering and our personal struggles.
We whores take care of people and we deserve to be treated with the same care and respect as everyone else.
Allies – please consider your position relative to the sex worker community when selecting your ticket amount. We have set a sliding scale to include sex workers, migrants, trans and gender expansive people, and BIPOC community members. If you are a sex worker among these communities and cannot afford €7,5 please contact info@queer.red. A limited number of tickets will be reserved.
This film programme will be introduced by María Riot: an Argentinian sex worker, sex workers’ rights activist, intimacy coordinator and artist.
Filmmakers will be present for a Q&A following the screenings.
A Quick Fix
Colorblock Films, April Flores Films, Praline Studio | Germany | 2024 | 7 min | English
Housewife April Flores’ washing machine breaks down. When dykey plumber Manon Praline arrives, April turns on her bimbo charm, and reveals her real intentions. Soon Manon is sliding into April’s velvet robe, and she wants that wrench where?!
Cane
Bendix Mignon | Germany | 2024 | 5 min
A short queer porn film which celebrates crip sex. It is part of an ongoing (and very practical) research into crip porn, into what it means to fuck with disability and normalcy. It queers the actor and finds agency in our aids. Who assists whom, who grants access? “cane” is an intimate red-hot crip-sexy hip-grinding rhythmic conversation of a person and their cane.
Bang Click Bang
Hardwerk | Germany | 2021 | 17 min | English
Inspired by the sexploitation films of Russ Meyers and Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow Up (1966), HardWerk’s latest gang bang is a slow burning subversion of cinematic tropes that finds the carnal in the camp and the sumptuous in the sleaze. For her first ever gang bang and first facial on film, lead performer Maria Riot and the filmmakers reimagined the figure of the bossy (and generally male) photographer with a much-needed shift on the gender axis, allowing Maria to take the lead in quite literally staging her own fantasy. Here, the line between object, subject and artist can become blurred; men in all their exaggerated machismo can become eager playthings, and the directive cannot go unheeded: look at me.
No Man Like Me
Jaq Quicksilver | USA | 2023 | 4 min | English
“So you’re bicurious…. Big deal. Get online, you can be sucking dick or getting fucked within an hour – if that’s what you really want to do. It’s one of the easiest things on earth to do. …But instead you’re here with me. Let’s explore why that is.
Reclamation
Oran Julius | USA | 2022 | 6 min | English
Three friends gather on the solstice to practice a healing ritual involving messaging, fists, and hot wax. Who says wax play can’t be therapeutic? Reclamation is all about leaning into kink as healing, self care, and community love. Three friends gather on the solstice to practice a healing ritual designed to help them embrace and celebrate their bodies. Together they pamper each other before forming a bond with a very special seal. In Reclamation we celebrate Black bodies, Brown bodies, fat bodies, disabled bodies, hypermobile bodies, chronically ill bodies, and trans bodies.
Vice Versa
Julian Curico | France/Germany | 2022 | 20 min
Dancing towards his prey, Jamal is ready for his long awaited opening…
Alya Kara | France | 2023 | 45 min | French with English subs
A closed encounter with a stigmatised community, constantly pushed to the margins: independent sex workers.
This invisibilised community, forced to live hidden because they are not wanted in this society. For them, getting together is more than necessary, it is a matter of survival.
This film has mention of sexual violence and suicide.
4 SEASONS BROTHEL
Kiddo Leone | Belgium | 2024 | 30 min | French with English subs
As a sex worker, fighting against invisibility is a daily struggle. A longing for witness has impulsed this movie to turn into a kaleidoscopic documentary-vlog. Here’s four sex workers journey from their prep rituals to their after work rituals, passing through their way to work and a work session.
They testify about their different experiences of coming in, coming out, outing and professional retraining as sex workers. Their multiple experiences are also intertwined with queer and so called non-conform identity. Made with beloved colleagues and a client, four seasons Vivaldi music, to weave a micro archive and constellation of our bright existences.
This film will be introduced by Porn Film Festival Amsterdam which aims to create a safe and accessible space where marginalised voices can be heard, and where the community can come together to explore, reclaim and celebrate their autonomy and art.
Solo
Andrés Valenzuela Arellano | Chile | 2025 | 63 min | Spanish with English subs
SOLO invites us into the world of Ed, an erotic performer from Chile. Under an explosion of neon lights and desire, Andrés Valenzuela Arellano weaves fluidity and explicit intimacy into an expanded experience. More than cinema, it’s an invitation to break taboos and push boundaries.
SOLO delves into the life and work of Edandress, a Chilean performer and erotic content creator, as they embark on a journey through pivotal milestones. From their childhood and adolescence in Melipilla to their beginnings in the erotic industry, the film, directed by Andrés Valenzuela and produced by Cinéculo, embodies the metaphor of dilation as the protagonist opens their personal space to the camera. It tackles themes like consent while revealing the essence of pleasure in everyday life: breaking free from a repressive, guilt-driven society and experiencing absolute freedom by embracing exploration.
Hanna leaves her family and her girlfriend behind to go to San Francisco. She dreams of exploring her sexuality way beyond what is possible in her small Swedish hometown. At a party in San Francisco she gets to know two experienced sex workers: Chloe, a professional domina with dreams of a better life and Cyd, a playful and shameless escort, selling sex to gay men.
Together with them Hanna embarks on a journey. For the first time in her life she starts to feel like she could belong somewhere. But staying in San Francisco is expensive. To be able to remain in the city Hannah wants to try sex work herself and starts working with Chloe.
Chloe and Cyd are at a different part of their journey, wanting to create more stable lives for themselves in a city that is rapidly gentrifying. There are both ups and downs to sex work for all of them and while Hanna is beginning to live the life she’s been dreaming of, there is something looming at the horizon.
Hanna’s new way of life doesn’t align with the values of her loved ones back in Sweden. But maybe her girlfriend will understand Hanna’s choices better after she comes to visit? And maybe if Hanna dares to be open to her parents they would actually become closer?
Many of the films in this shorts programme have screened before at SNAP! Festival, who will be present to introduce the screening.
More about presenter Marianne Chargois & SNAP!
This Brussels-based Sex workers Narratives Arts & Politics festival is SW-led and entirely dedicated to the discourses, representations and issues related to sex work. SNAP! has been a huge inspiration to us over the years- visiting their gorgeous festival truly helped envision Whorehouse Cinema and look for sw- created art! We opened their festival last year and now it’s our turn to welcome them in return. And we can continue snapping our fingers throughout the festival, as the SNAP! creator Marianne Chargois will also perform during the ‘Whorehouse Cabaret’ performance night on Saturday!
42 Days
Nat Portnoy | The Netherlands | 2020 | 11 min | Polish with English subs
42 Days focuses on the moment of confrontation with a terminal disease and an attempt to process a personal tragedy.
The film, in a form of visual diary, takes the viewers onto a journey of realisations regarding the author’s difficult family relations, gender and sexual identity and the lack of control. It reflects on shame, guilt and the experience of queerness in a conservative, Catholic setting as well as on the concepts of migration and re-rooting. The author speculates whether it’s possible to fully accept one’s fate.
This film deals with topics like terminal disease, disability and suicide.
Not in Love (Pas Amoureux)
Eugénie Bouquet | Switzerland | 2022 | 4 min | French with English subs
Two people are sitting on a bench in the Parc des Bastions in Geneva. One, Judith, is a sex worker who talks about her experience with disabled clients. The other one, me, is interviewing and recording her. An animated documentary about sex between people who are not in love.
This film engages with themes of illness and death.
Prima Vista
Squareheart & Cornpop Bright | Greece | 2024 | 3 min | No spoken language
Every gaze carries within it the potential for profound understanding. Through the lens of a woman’s eyes, we watch a private performance where sight transcends mere observation, becoming a vessel for connection and empathy.
READY
Vincent Weschelberger | Germany | 2024 | 10 min | English
READY is an honest portrait of contemporary queer sex work emerging out of [the director’s] own relationship to it. This series offers a window into our reality – the elation and self-actualization, as well as the struggles and stigma we experience.
Reisende
Cosmopolitrans, ESWA, BV Trans | Germany | 2023 | 14 min | Spanish with English subs
This short documentary addresses in a sensitive and detailed way the lives of migrant trans women working in the sex sector in Germany.
Through personal testimonies and intimate narratives, the multiple difficulties that these women face are exposed, such as discrimination, economic precariousness, and legal and social obstacles. However, the documentary also highlights their achievements and the resilience they demonstrate in facing these challenges. It shows how they find support in supportive communities and support networks, and how they fight for their rights and dignity in an often hostile environment.
Sugar Alyssa Brayboy | USA | 2023 | 6 min | English
We follow Banner on his search for a sex worker. He stumbles across Alora, who is usually up for anything, but she quickly learns Banner isn’t a typical client.
Toomas Beneath the Valley of the Wild Wolves
Chintis Lundgren | Estonia, Croatia, France | 2019 | 18 min | English
After losing a well paid engineering job, Toomas, a young hot wolf, gets cornered into working as a gigolo to support his family. He is keeping it a secret from his pregnant wife Viivi. Viivi also has a secret: she is attending a female empowerment seminar involving male slaves. When Toomas gets a role in a sexploitation movie, it becomes harder to keep his new profession a secret.
Join us for this celebration of our second festival! Quirine Lengkeek will share some remarks about the status of sex workers, some of the artist that are a part of the sex worker art exhibition will talk about their work, we’ll screen a short film, and there will be a shibari performance.
Quirine Lengkeek is a queer feminist activist and chairwoman of SekswerkExpertise, a Dutch knowledge platform aiming to advance the position of sex workers, and active member of SWAD.
She’s fond of glitter, policy documents and advocating for the labour rights of sex workers, be it at the municipality, parliament, or the UN!
Thriving: A Dissociated Reverie
Nicole Bazuin | Canada | 2023 | 10 min | English
A surrealist exploration of dissociative identity disorder (DID) based on the lived experience of a Black, nonbinary, disabled artist and former sex worker.
More about the film & director
Thriving: A Dissociated Reverie is a surrealist exploration of dissociative identity disorder (DID) based on the lived experience of Black, non-binary, disabled emerging multidisciplinary performance artist and former sex worker Kitoko Mai. Grappling with their DID diagnosis while attempting to survive capitalism, we meet a range of “alters” (alternate personalities) representing the various emotional states of Mai, the “system host.” Featuring a tour-de-force performance by Mai, Thriving is directed by Nicole Bazuin (Modern Whore, SXSW 2020), and co-written/co-produced by Mai and Bazuin, alongside sex worker advocate and author Andrea Werhun. This visually striking film lensed by Ashley Iris Gill is complete with lush animations by Society of Illustrators triple-gold-medallist Dylan Glynn. Thriving was created with the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Toronto Arts Council.
Nicole Bazuin (director) is a Toronto film director and interdisciplinary artist. In collaboration with writer and former escort Andrea Werhun, Nicole co-created and photographed the acclaimed book Modern Whore: A Memoir (Strange Light, Penguin Random House Canada). Nicole directed an award-winning short film adaptation of the book, titled Modern Whore (Official Selection, SXSW 2020). She created and directed the comedy art show This Art Works! (CBC), and the climate change documentary series Climate Talks With Kids (Bell TV). Nicole’s media artworks have been exhibited by the Art Gallery of Ontario, and commissioned by festivals such as Nuit Blanche and Luminato.
A new R’hope (shibari/kinbaku performance)
by Cyanhur and Messy Anni (France | 2024 | 30-35 min)
When everything has turned to chaos, resistance is whispering in the night, a rope lies on the ground, silent witness of a fractured world. In the middle of the rubble, two beings find each other and unite again. Together, they choose to share a moment of affection, to suspend time and defy the surrounding chaos. Let yourself be carried away by this suspended moment, where hope seems possible again.
This show contains bondage and BDSM scenes, as well as siren audios.
More about the performers
Cyanhur @cyanhur (they/them) is an artist and SW passionate about shibari. For them ropes go far beyond a simple practice: they weave physical and emotional connections, nourishing a unique artistic universe. By merging their love of ropes with creativity, they explore and share this art through photos and videos.
Messy Anni @messy_anni (she/her) is a shibari switch and occasional SW. She started shibari in Greece and has practiced this art with different partners in various countries since then. She enjoys how ropes can facilitate communication and trust building between people, as well as the power exchange it creates. She sees ropes as a tool that can be used for different purposes and intentions.
