Chasing Fireflies

Paper Cannot Wrap Up Embers

March 2007 •English

During the last half-century, Cambodia has witnessed genocide, decades of war and the collapse of social order. Now, documentary filmmaker Rithy Panh looks at an irreparable tragedy that is less visible, yet no less pervasive: the spiritual death that results when young women are forced into prostitution. Angry and impassioned, PAPER CANNOT WRAP UP EMBERS presents the searing stories of poor Asian women whose lives were violated and their destinies destroyed when their bodies were turned into items of sexual commerce.

Frau Mercedes

January 2008 •German

In Bern, Madame Mercedes has been working for 35 years in her car as a prostitute. An intimate and subtle portrait about ageing as a prostitute, a documentary about a vanishing chapter of habits in Switzerland.

The Women Outside

July 1996 •English

They're called bar women, hostesses, or sex workers and "western princesses." They come from poor families, struggling to earn a decent wage, only to be forced into the world's oldest profession. They're the women who work in the camptowns that surround U.S. military bases in South Korea. In 40 years, over a million women have worked in Korea's military sex industry, but their existence has never been officially acknowledged by either government. In The Women Outside, a film by J.T. Orinne Takagi and Hye Jung Park, some of these women bravely speak out about their lives for the first time. The film raises provocative questions about military policy, economic survival, and the role of women in global geopolitics

69 - Praça da Luz

June 2008 •Portuguese

Prostitutes of old age make their living in Praça da Luz, in São Paulo. Unusual and surprising accounts of five women who reveal in detail their experiences in all these years of profession.

Last Temptation in Thailand

May 2007 •English

Looking for paradise lost, the "Last Temptation in Thailand" is a mesmerizing odyssey through ancient temples, idyllic islands & enticing dark-eyed ladies of eve in a very sexy, off the beaten track road movie.

West End Jungle

December 1961 •English

1961 documentary about the history and seedy reality of the sex industry in London's Soho.

Cocottes et courtisanes dans l’œil des peintres

October 2015 •German

Happy Endings?

March 2009 •English

An intriguing exploration of the Asian massage parlor industry in Providence, RI, where a 25 year-old loophole has made the exchange of sex for money legal - as long as it happens behind closed doors. As the documentary follows a recent Korean immigrant, "Heather", working to operate her spa, the city's mayor fights to change the law that allows her business a legal existence. The film includes interviews with Korean women who work in spas, clients who frequent the spas, politicians from 1980 and today, police, local news footage, radio call-in shows and "voiced" reviews from inter-net escort review boards.

Storyville - The Naked Dance

July 2001 •English

The Naked Dance is the first documentary about America's legendary legal red-light district that thrived in New Orleans from 1898 until World War I. Storyville got its name when Alderman Sidney Story attempted to clear up the New Orleans waterfront by restricting prostitution to a specific neighborhood. To his chagrin, the area was dubbed "Storyville," and it was so known until the U.S. Navy closed it for good in 1917.

Putta

December 2016 •Portuguese

Putta (Whore) follows the story of three prostitutes living in the town of Foz do Iguaçu, on the triple border between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. The film traverses the complexities of each of the three prostitutes personal lives’–from transexuality to family and motherhood–in the context of the brothels and streets in which they work.

Nothing with Me When I Die, Those Who Owe Me I'll Collect in Hell

January 1981 •Portuguese

An exercise in gentle voyeurism revealing glimpses of the secret side of Salvador, the capital city of the Brazilian state of Bahia, filming a derelict prostitution zone.

Mustang: The House That Joe Built

July 1977 •English

A documentary about the girls of the Mustang Ranch, a legal brothel in Nevada.

Sexwork & Me

January 2012 •English

21st century legal prostitution through the frank stories of Amsterdam red-light district sex workers at a time when tighter regulation threatens their livelihood.

Buy Bye Beauty

January 2001 •English

Buy Bye Beauty is a 2001 documentary film by Swedish director and performance artist Pål Hollender. The film is about the way Latvian sex industry and its being fueled by businessmen and sex tourists from Sweden visiting Riga. The film was shot in Riga in July 2000. The narration of the film is in English, with interviews conducted in Russian and Latvian.

A kiss for Gabriela

March 2018 •English

A KISS FOR GABRIELA tells the story of a remarkable woman named Gabriela Leite. An activist for sex workers’ rights for over 30 years, Gabriela was the first sex worker to run for Brazilian Congress. The documentary presents an intimate portrait of her 2010 campaign when she faced 822 opponents and challenged a male dominated political system. Combining an observational style with unrestricted access, it explores what it means to be a prostitute, to be a wife, and most importantly, what it means for a woman representing one of the most stigmatized populations in the world to run for office. Gabriela’s charisma and amazing history of activism engages audiences and encourages them to reflect critically on laws and policies that restrict the rights and possibilities of women like Gabriela globally. For women like Gabriela who make history and challenge stereotypes with their campaigns, it is not whether they win or lose, or even how they play. It’s that they’re in the game at all.

Under the Rose

June 1992 •

James Wong and his female assistant visited various kinds of pleasure-houses, including invisible dens, high-tech private dens, smuggling blackpoints and famouse tryst places, both large and small ones, throughout Hong Kong. They also looked back to the Scientific Beauty in Lai Chi Kok Amusement Park, striptease in the Kowloon Walled City and the old stories in fish-ball stalls. There are also interviews of call-girls and grooms.

Whore Culture

December 1993 •English

Documentary about the 1993 "Whore Culture: A Festival of Sex Work" event in Toronto.

Chicken Ranch

May 1983 •English

Documentary on the "Chicken Ranch," a legal Nevada brothel.

Sexarbeiterin

January 2016 •German

Documentary on the daily life of a sexual masseuse in Berlin.

Chained Girls

March 1965 •English

This exploitation classic purports to expose the secrets of the 1960s lesbian underworld.