© TFC
LABOR
Director—Tove Pils
Documentary, SWE 2023—96min—18+
Swedish/English original version with English subtitles
FILM SPONSORSHIP
Tove Pils‘s powerful documentary about the lives of queer sex workers in San Francisco.
Grainy shots of a large, closed eye. In the background, a gasp, a dull roar, the camera slowly sweeps across the face. The other eyelid is also lowered, it disappears into deep shadow. A voice starts talking: “This is not my voice. It says: Where I come from, if you are in a film like this, there is a risk“.
The voice belongs to Hanna, who wishes to remain anonymous. In search of sexual liberation, she moves from her small hometown in Sweden to San Francisco. There she soon meets Cyd and Chloe, who earn their living as an escort and a professional dominatrix, and introduce her to the world of sex work. With great tenderness and intimacy, this documentary – which director Tove Pils worked on for over 10 years – gathers their testimonies about life in the sex industry in the form of conversations and gently approaches the characters, their faces between light and shadow.