Friday, June 23, 2023 at 7:30pm
Janis Cole and Holly Dale's Hookers on Davie
361 Stagg Street, Suite 407, Brooklyn
Introduced by Elizabeth Purchell
Hookers on Davie, Janis Cole and Holly Dale, 1984, 16mm, 88 mins
For the follow-up to their award-winning documentary feature P4W: Prison for Women, Canadian filmmakers Janis Cole and Holly Dale turned their attention to the area of Vancouver that was once known as “the prostitution capital of Canada,” where sex workers of all ages and genders had begun organizing to protect each other and fight for decriminalization. Researched and shot over the span of a year, Hookers on Davie mixes candid one-on-one interviews with on-the-ground footage, shot at night using hidden cameras and radio microphones. What emerges from this material is a portrait of a class of people—mostly trans—who to this day are rarely afforded such grace and care. Seldom screened and ripe for rediscovery, Hookers on Davie deserves to be spoken of in the same breath as Jennie Livingston’s Paris Is Burning and Antonio Giménez-Rico’s Dressed in Blue as a major work documenting the intersection of transness and sex work.
- EP
“We intentionally make films about people in invisible communities, people on the fringe. These are people that are used to being burned by society over the years—often exploited in newsprint. So when we first approached them they were apprehensive. We had to get them to trust us. That’s why it’s so important that we reach people with this film, because these prostitutes are opening up for the first time to the people who burned them before. We’re only the vehicles to get to those people. Although we maintain objectivity, we do care about the people we make films about.”
- Janis Cole and Holly Dale
Elizabeth Purchell is an Austin-based queer film historian, programmer, filmmaker, and the creator of Ask Any Buddy.
Print courtesy of Elizabeth Purchell.
Tickets - Pay what you can ($10 suggested donation), available at door.
Please note: seating is limited. First-come, first-served. Box office opens at 7pm. No entry 10 minutes after start of show.