Here at The Indiependent, we are avid supporters of up and coming indie filmmakers, especially ones especially trying to make a difference. Meet Beyond The Red Light, a documentary that wants to share the narrative of sex workers fighting for their rights and justice. The film aims to highlight the world of sex workers rights campaigning against radical feminism, stigma and legalisation of their profession. With only 3 days to go to, with just under £1000 to meet the stretch goal of £15,000, we speak to the crew.
Through the production of Beyond The Red Light, the filmmakers, Pauline Blanchet, Sabrina Jones, Thea Sun, Milla Lewis and Mim Lucy share their roles evenly. They share many professions: they are photographers, researchers, academics and more. Most importantly, they all share the common passion to raise awareness of social justice issues through the medium of film.
The origins of the documentary can be traced back to director Pauline attending a talk where the founder of the East London Prostitute Collective, Stacey Clare aka the Ethical Stripper, unravelled the complexity of the legal system and presented the dangers for strippers in the UK. Viewing the scope of this social issue, Pauline assembled a team of first-time filmmakers and began production.
“How we’re seen, how we are perceived, how we’re victimised, stereotyped, made into plot devices, is objectification at its finest,” Stacey Clare.
The sex worker rights movement has been around for decades and has received little attention, leaving sex workers to live outside of the law, in the face of constant scrutiny for their profession. Despite the media’s recurrent practice of skewing the truth to fit larger narratives of victimisation or vilification, gaining the true narrative became the focal point and end goal for Beyond The Red Light.
The outbreak of coronavirus slowed down production, stalling any preexisting plans which forced the crew to adapt and scale back. They spent this time speaking to sex worker organisations including UK based Sex Worker Advocacy Resistance Movement (SWARM) and East London Prostitute Collective (EPC) to those over on the other side of the world like Project X in Singapore or Call Off Your Tired Old Ethics (COYOTE) Rhode Island to best understand the nuances of the sex worker experience. It became clear that the pandemic had only exacerbated the discrimination sex workers face on a daily basis bringing a previously in though of perspective to the filmmakers. Such news was a source of bittersweet motivation to continue on with their research.
Next steps for Beyond The Red Light mean crowdfunding to make it to North Macedonia in December to meet the first sex-workers-led collective in the Balkans, STAR STAR. The girls plan on following three sex workers in North Macedonia, filming public events such as marches, pop-up dinners with ministries and intimate one-on-one interviews.
Having met their initial goal of £10,000 in just two weeks, their stretched goal of £15,000 has almost been met. “Achieving this will make a huge difference to the quality of post-production with a top knot editor and colourist. It will also mean we can extend our time in Northern Macedonia to ten days so to make sure we capture all the nuances of Borche and the sex workers we meet there.”
Despite the uncertainty brought by COVID-19, Beyond The Red Light is pushing through production and the all-female crew continue to learn about sex work, having only scratched the surface.
Help the Beyond The Red Light production by donating to their crowdfunder here: https://greenlit.fund/project/beyond-red-light continue to share and spread the message to help bring social justice and rights to sex workers across the world.
Words by Thea Sun