Screening and storytelling - Igniting Irish sex workers through film
Published 31 December 2023
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Ireland has just hosted its first ever sex worker film festival. Red Insight visited to take in the culture, celebrations and challenges of our Irish colleagues.
Coming together
Getting a group of sex workers together in Ireland is kind of a big deal, given the recently implemented Nordic model and the many false brothel keeping convictions. The Irish Magdalene Laundries had kept sex workers in abusive prison-like conditions for over 200 years, until 1996. And while feminists proclaimed “my body my choice” to gain abortion rights in 2018, few would say it again for sex workers.
The organisers of the festival came together as friends, combining their skills as activists and artists with their shared experiences of sex work. One of the organisers told us that the festival aimed to bring something more positive to Ireland’s sex work community: “We’ve had a really difficult few years. It can be wearing to constantly try to organise in the face of hostility. We wanted to celebrate sex workers in Ireland, to re-energise our community and hopefully come back together a bit stronger to continue organising into the future.”
The festival was hosted across Dublin’s arts and nightlife venues, and in Unite, one of Ireland’s largest trade unions. Unite sponsored the event, publicly stating their solidarity while recognising our status as workers with a need for labour rights. The event was open to the public, and attracted people who might not usually attend sex worker events but were open to a festival, and to learning more. The organisers believe that film is one of the best ways to tell more honest, sensitive stories about sex work to respond to the stigma, damaging laws and painful past.
Cinematic highlights
The festival packed four days full of diverse film and documentary screenings, opening with the Irish debut of the experimental, deeply personal documentary Labor (2023). Labor follows three queer, sex working friends on their relatably messy journey of self-discovery over a ten year period in San Francisco.
The festival was proud to present the European premiere of Fly in Power (2023). After a sex worker died during a police raid of a US massage parlour, a group of Asian and migrant workers needed to find ways to honour her and protect each other, and they formed Red Canary Song. The film was produced entirely by women, trans, non binary and queer people of the Asian diaspora; at least 50% of them were sex workers and it shows. They capture the love and care that’s held within chosen families, and celebrate women supporting women while fighting for our rights. Fly in Power is the world’s first film to centre an Asian massage worker, telling her story with her own words, narrative and editorial choices.
Sexy extras
Several sex-worker-made short films were screened including Oubliette, made by Red Insight's own editor Cass Traitor, followed by panels with the filmmakers from around the world. The organisers loved this part of the festival: “We got to hear about sex workers’ experiences with film, with media more generally, and with community organising in their own regions. We were delighted to bring this to Ireland.”
The main panel featured Bernadette Devlin-McAliskey, a formidable Irish civil rights leader, feminist and former politician who spoke of discrimination in Ireland: “When it comes to attitudes towards sex workers, trans people and Travellers in Ireland, prejudice isn’t a strong enough word. If their body was sliced into a salami, their distaste of sex workers would be in every single piece.” Before slicing bigots, she served in Parliament from the age of 21, slapped the Conservative Home Secretary across the face, and survived prison and being shot nine times. Bernadette left us feeling fearless, and galvanised.
We creaked our way through a hip twisting, floor humping stripper skills class, to be rewarded with glamorous, acrobatic performances at the festival afterparty. The festival gathered people to bond, share stories and creative inspiration, talk about our rights and our fight, and pay it forward. All funds raised from the festival will be used to launch a street-based sex worker collective.
Future films
Red Insight is excited to announce that the organisers will host another Red Umbrella Film Festival in 2025, and they plan to continue the event biannually. To find out more and donate, visit their website. Follow them on instagram to show them some love and keep track of their other events - we can’t wait for whatever’s next!
Photos in order of appearance: Header image by Red Umbrella Film Festival, Still from Labor by Festival Scope Pro / Tove Pils, Still from Fly in Power: Documentary Trailer by Red Canary Song, Image by Red Umbrella Film Festival
