The Brothel Project Review

In a city known for high tea, seniors, gardens, and perhaps most epitomized by the expression – the newly wed and the nearly dead, there is another lesser known, but equally thriving element to the coastal city of Victoria – the sex trade. In a debut film by director April Butler-Parry and written by Gillian Hrankowski, The Brothel Project explores Victoria’s best-kept secret via a new 52-minute documentary.

The Brothel Project follows journalist and activist Jody Paterson and University of Victoria researcher, activist and former sex worker Lauren Casey as they set out to challenge mainstream thinking, debunk stereotypes, and open the first ever legal co-op brothel, operated by sex workers for sex workers in Victoria, British Columbia.

Currently, there are estimated to be four underground brothels operating in the quaint Vancouver Island city, under the guise of massage parlors or escort agencies, with almost 1000 independent escorts licensed with the city who work as indoor sex workers. In Canada, the act of prostitution itself is not illegal, but everything surrounding it is.

Filmed in New Zealand, Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia, The Brothel Project follows the two women as they work to find out how they can create a safe haven for sex trade workers while also raising awareness about how Canadian laws need to be changed to protect people in the sex industry.

In New Zealand, prostitution, and everything involved with it, has been decriminalized. During their visit, the women spend a lot of time visiting various sex trade establishments and figuring out what ideas they can bring back to their ideal brothel in Canada.

After several months of planning their cooperative brothel, Paterson and Casey start working with dynamic booking agent and businesswoman Harvi, and a young, vivacious prostitute called Mia. Together, the women, not without a few personal dramas and awkward moments, work towards their mutual dream of opening the first legal brothel in Canada.

The Brothel Project explores the world’s oldest profession from a unique and engaging perspective, offering the most original look at the sex trade you will ever find.

The familiar stereotypes of exploited women, young girls lured by promises of drugs and easy money, the hardened pimp and the unhappy hooker are nowhere to be found in this thoroughly modern story of prostitution. In fact, The Brothel Project takes those tired stereotypes and turns them upside down. You have four intelligent women, in control of their lives, bodies, and futures, that are interested in creating a safe working environment for women in the trade, while also attempting to raise awareness about the need to decriminalize sex work.

Perhaps most surprising and unfamiliar of all, is that all the women love their jobs associated with the sex industry – whether it is working to raise awareness as activists or journalists, running a thriving brothel or working in the sex trade – these gals are doing what they love.

Narrated by Canadian actress Carly Pope, The Brothel Project is a film about prostitution like you have never seen before – fresh, funny, original and empowering.

The Brothel Project recently made its debut at the Victoria Film Festival to a packed house and excellent audience reception. The Victoria Film Festival has added a second show on February 6th, 2010 at 4pm at the Capital 6 Cinema in Victoria, BC.

Visit: http://www.victoriafilmfestival.com/

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