In the summer of 2005 a sensation appeared on domestic social networks in the form of a blog titled “Maja in a brothel.” The author of this blog, whose nickname was “sexymaja”, identified herself as a girl from Belgrade, who has just started in the prostitution business. She soon became one of the most popular persona on the web, entertaining numerous readers with witty and provocative descriptions of the clients she had met. However, after her mysterious disappearance from the scene, suspicions were aroused about the identity of this person. The blog community points a finger at a ghostwriter, who was allegedly responsible for the entire conspiracy. He admits it, but without much hesitation also leads us to its inspiration – a girl who’s actually lived through it all.
Ibogaine: Rite of Passage (2004)
Ibogaine is a plant extract that stops drug addiction. In this documentary, a 34-year-old heroin addict undergoes ibogaine therapy with Dr Martin Polanco at the Ibogaine Association, a clinic in Rosarito, Mexico. In Gabon, where use of the iboga root is traditional, a Babongo woman's tribe uses the plant to help her recover from a depressive malaise. Director Benjamin De Loenen interviews people formerly addicted to heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine, who share their perspectives about ibogaine treatment.
A kiss for Gabriela (2018)
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.
Focus On Heroin (1971)
This film points out the risks of being a heroin addict. Explains that addicts cannot be identified solely with one particular socio-economic level and cannot always be detected by appearance. Addicts and ex-addicts describe the first and subsequent drugs they used.
Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell (2016)
Filmmaker Martin Bell chronicles the life of Erin Blackwell, mother of 10 children, from the time she was a 14-year-old prostitute through her battle with drug addiction, poverty and parenting.
Ain't Nobody's Business (1977)
A documentary on female prostitution featuring scenes with six different prostitutes, a male member of the vice squad, and Margo St. James. Made with an all-female crew.
Under the Rose (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.
69 - Praça da Luz (2008)
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.
The Women Outside (1996)
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
Little Sister's vs. Big Brother (2002)
This documentary, filmed over a 10-year period, centers on the debate over censorship as it follows Vancouver's Little Sister's Bookstore and its 20-year struggle with Canada Customs over the seizure of books. In the face of bigotry, bombings and repeated book seizures, it wages the most important legal battle in history against Canada Customs.
Paper Cannot Wrap Up Embers (2007)
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 (2008)
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.
West End Jungle (1961)
1961 documentary about the history and seedy reality of the sex industry in London's Soho.
Buy Bye Beauty (2001)
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.
Chasing Fireflies (2012)
Chasing Fireflies focuses on the narratives of young female children who were victimized by human trafficking and their eventual captivity to child prostitution.
Storyville - The Naked Dance (2001)
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.
Iboga Nights (2014)
Once again, David Graham Scott examines how some addicts use the plant medicine iboga to detox rapidly—and how, sometimes, the conditions in which they detox put them at risk.
One Book at a Time (2020)
Sarah Kamya is a school counselor in New York City. She began the project Little Diverse Libraries on June 3rd and has already raised over $13,000, supported black owned bookstores, and has distributed 775 books to Little Free Libraries across all 50 states. Sarah is helping educate communities while most importantly amplifying and empowering black voices.
The Satanic Verses: 30 Years On (2019)
The publication of Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses in 1988 sparked a culture war in Britain between the Muslim community, who considered the book blasphemous and called for the book to be banned, and those defending it as an expression of freedom of speech. Protests, began in England and soon spread to the rest of the Islamic world, culminating in February 1989 with Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issuing a fatwa - a death sentence on the writer. Now, 30 years on, Mobeen Azhar embarks on a journey to examine the lasting effect the book has had on the Muslim community, and continue to have an impact today. Mobeen hears from a range of people affected by the so called 'Rushdie Affair' - from the men who took an early stand against the book; to a writer who wrestled with the book's publication, complex questions of free speech, and her own religious beliefs; and a former member of the National Front who claims that the furor over the book became a recruiting tool for them.