Northwest Film Forum

From the Sangli district in the rural south of India to the life of a
New York City callboy, sex workers reach out through film and video to share their experiences. LET'S DO IT! is a night of experimental and documentary shorts dedicated to human rights and advocacy for sex workers across the globe. 

As misrepresentations of those who trade erotic labor proliferate the mainstream media, sex workers and sex worker activists help to reduce stigmatization by becoming their own authors, reporters, and organizers. The evening’s films will examine the unique challenges and joys of being a sex worker. Following the screening will be a panel discussion with past and present sex workers whose experience varies from peep show work, fetish & fantasy to erotic massage and more. Miss Indigo Blue (Academy of Burlesque), billie rain (dual power infamy) Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore (Author of So Many Ways To Sleep Badly), local writer and sex worker Sophia J. Russel, Annie Oakley and other special guests will be in attendance. 

Please join us to discuss individual experiences with advocacy, work and empowerment. There will be a reception with beverages, a DJ, food and copies of $pread magazines for donation, all to raise funds for a local resource guide by and for sex workers.

*Please note this is a fragrance free event
Northwest Film Forum is wheelchair accessible

Prostitution Free Zone (PJ Starr and Alliance for Safe and Diverse DC, USA, 2009, DVD, 13 min) This film takes a sobering look at how, during attempts to gentrify inner-city areas of our nation’s capital, “Prostitution Free Zones” are being used to move targeted people out of the neighborhoods where they have traditionally congregated.

Manicured (Kinsey Bell, Seattle, 2010, DigiBeta, 5 min)
 An exploration of light, body and color to show working fetish and sacrifice of the body.

SANGRAM: Sex Worker Organizing in India (International Women's Health Coalition & SANGRAM, USA & India, 2009, Digital, 6 min) Sex workers and their allies share stories about their organizing work and the challenges they’ve overcome to build community, prevent new HIV infections, gain better access to health care, and improve the quality of their lives.


In Our Own Image (Mandona Productions, USA, 2009, DVD, 19 min) This documentary short looks at $pread Magazine, an example of sex worker-made media, and discusses its aim to change the way media itself approaches sex work.

Taking the Pledge (Melissa Ditmore and Erin Siegal, International, 2007, DVD, 13 min) Taking the Pledge features sex workers from Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Mali, Thailand discussing the problems created by the ‘anti-prostitution pledge’ required to receive funding for HIV prevention from USAID and AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

I Am A Sex Worker (USA, 2009, Mini-DV, 1 min)
 A public service announcement video created by Speak Up media training workshop.

Danse Danse Danse If Yr Feeling Fancy (Ccrimson Cclover with dessert, Seattle, 2010, Super 8/DVD, 3 min) With the babes and beasts of liturgical liquids, gases and metals, we salivate like transubstantiation and move like Kate Bush, Dale Cooper and Diamanda Galas in a slug fuck.

I Want You (A performance by Sadie Lune documented by Carol Leigh AKA Harlot Scarlot, USA, 2008, DVD, 2 min) I Want You to Vote Yes on Prop K speaks to the cultural dismissals and stereotypes about sex workers and says: cut it out!

Humor Me (Basil Shadid and Billie Rain, Seattle, 2010, Digital, 7 min) Humor Me briefly interviews three sex-workers about a funny and humanizing moment from the job.

La santé sans censure (Canada, 10 min) La Santé Sans Censure is a quirky, short-film produced by Stella’s team in collaboration with Séro-Zéro, as well as with professional film-makers. Surrounded by a 1970s-style décor, Natacha and Jean-François, two sex-workers, played by actors Nathalie Claude and Stéphane Crête, inform clients on healthy and responsible sexual practices.

Rain Money (B.B.I.C) (Lady Jay, Directed and Edited by LH Maloney, Produced by Drop Musik, From the album "People's Choice", USA, 2009, 5 min) Detroit, MI is the birthplace of many legends in the music industry. Many Divas were true Diamonds who were unearthed in a blue collar city of hard working people. The next diamond to be found is named Janiece "Lady Jay" She's been singing since age ten and rapping since she was fourteen. "Real Life experiences is what I express in my music. I am very dedicated to it. This is my dream and I'm extremely hungry!!!" Lady Jay represents part of her life as stripper in "Rain Money", letting us all know, in a hot, fierce way, what she's all about. Produced by the record label Drop Musik, this hit is making it's way across the states at strip clubs and beyond as Lady Jay makes it rain money.

Curated by the bird cage collective, with special thanks to Uniondocs.