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Welcome to SAQMI Play, the podcast that features queer film makers and film making.

This episode is a discussion about Tove Pils’ documentary Labor between me, Sam Message, and film maker Tove, as well as sex worker Ruby from Red Umbrella Sweden, an organization and community for sex workers. The conversation took place following a screening of Labor at LGBTQI+ film festival Film Out West, at Hagabion in Gothenburg 2023. 

In the film we follow Hannah as she leaves her family behind to go to the city of her dreams, San Francisco, where she hopes to explore her sexuality. At a party she meets the professional dominatrix Chloe and escort Cyd. 

Throughout the documentary we follow Hannah, Cyd and Chloes journeys to gain an intimate insight into their own experiences with sex work. By following these individuals over a period of ten years the film dives deep into the lives of queer sex workers on their own terms. Through this powerful lens the film exposes the profound impact of the intense stigma surrounding sex work, both in San Fransisco and even more so within the often heated debate within the Swedish context. 

More about the film Labor and the director Tove Pils:

In Labor, Tove Pils depicts a queer community that challenges the view of sex and work. When one of the film’s main characters, Hanna, travels to San Francisco, she falls in love with the heights, the atmosphere and a vibrant queer scene. At a party she meets Chloe and Cyd who are both sex workers. Hanna, who wants to find a way to stay in San Francisco, is attracted by the large sums of money they bring in. But since Hanna doesn’t dare to work alone, Chloe takes her under her wing and they start selling sex together. While Hanna feels that she has found home in San Francisco, it grates on her that she cannot tell her parents that she is a sex worker. Is there any chance they could understand?

Labor premiered in 2023 at the Gothenburg Film Festival in the Nordic Documentary Competition and has been screened around the world, and won the award for best documentary at Lovers Filmfest in Torino, Italy. In their filmmaking, Tove Pils tries to create structures to investigate what she and the communities they belong to strive for. Desire is a central concept for Tove. Labor deals with sexual, economic and social desires. In all of Tove’s films, there are representations of longing for queer spaces, both external and internal. Sugar Oil Pine Water (2021) is a dreamy hybrid about the desire for queer ritual spaces. PUSH ME (2014) is about finding spaces where you can challenge your own and society’s boundaries and norms and explore sexual desires.

Actors: Hanna, Chloé, Cyd
Producer: Melissa Lindgren, Story AB

Labor screened in SAQMIs serie Nightfall - Queer Talks & Screenings as part of Film Out West LGBTQI+ Filmfestival at Hagabion in Gothenburg December 2th 2023. Participants in the talk was Sam Message (moderator), Tove Pils and Ruby. Live recording by Silas Lilo Jensen. Curator Anna Linder.

Additional information: Labor exhibition 2019, supported by SAQMI.

About the participants in the panel:

Ruby, trans woman, sex worker and activist who is a member of Red Umbrella Sweden, an organization and community of and for sex workers and their rights and interests. Ruby has several years of experience in sex work in Sweden and has participated in panel talks and discussions at events such as Erotisk Afton, Pride, Småland’s nation, etc. She also helped organize the first Slut Walk in Malmö and spends time on political engagement at the grassroots level to influence and change society.

Sam Message (They/them) is an artist and community organiser based in Gothenburg. In their work they explore how art & culture can be used to weave new connections between people in order to build a more inclusive society and a more sustainable LGBTQ+ community.

Nedan följer ett urval av intervjuer, recensioner och artiklar om Labor:

1.Tove Pils följde sexarbetare i tio år: ”En viktig berättelse”, Sveriges Radio P1, 26/10-2023, Reporter: Felicia Frithiof, Producent: Esfar Ahmad.
2. Dokumentären “Labor” om sexarbete: “Att sälja sex är nödvändigtvis inte värre än andra jobb”, QX, 13/11-2022, Juli Adolphsson.
3. The Film Collaborative Boards Sex Work Documentary ‘Labor’ as Film Screens at CPH:DOX (EXCLUSIVE), VARIETY, 21/3-2023, Lise Pedersen.
4. One of our top picks at Copenhagen Documentary film festival, CPH:DOX, was Tove Pils Labor, Nordic Watchlist, 12/5-2023, Interview by Alex Minnis.
5. ”Labor”: I huvudet på en sexarbetare, Sydsvenskan, 20/10-2023, Malin Krutmeijer. (Observera att inlogg krävs).

"There is a lot of information and organisations out there doing good work to make the situation for sex workers better. Here are some of them, but there are so many more. The US organisations are recommendations from Chloe and Cyd, plus San Francisco Bay Area Sex Worker Film & Arts Festival, which also has an online archive with films and videos that is worth looking up. If you live in the nordic region please look up and learn more about the organizations here. There is also a link to all members in The European Sex Worker Alliance, which we think is a great way to see what organisations exists in Europe". Tove Pils

Bay area workers support (BAWS), is a peer-led resource organization, who works for the health, safety, and livelihoods of people in the sex trade. In the face of criminalization, stigma, and inadequate resources, BAWS mobilizes. BAWS harnesses community power and builds local partnerships to provide material resources, information, and support. BAWS creates space to increase strength, justice, and love for Bay Area workers. DONATE here.

SWOP Behind Bars is a national grassroots social justice network dedicated to the fundamental human rights of sex workers, victims of trafficking and their communities with a focus on those currently incarcerated or seeking reentry. DONATE here.

Red Canary Song (NYC based) is a grassroots organization of Asian and migrant sex workers and massage workers, organizing transnationally. Our work is in the tradition of sex worker mutual aid, and we center base-building with migrant massage workers through a framework of labor rights, migrant rights and PIC abolitionist framework. We believe that full decriminalization of sex work is necessary for the safety and survival of massage workers and trafficking survivors. DONATE here.

Lysistrata Cooperative (NYC based). A 150 member co-op operating nationally in the United States run by and for current/former sex workers founded in 2016. Lysistrata is best know for their 6 year ongoing Sex Worker Emergency Fund and is currently able to assist individuals with sliding scale amounts of $50-$100 depending on the specific situation/individual, availability of funds, location, and volume of requests. DONATE here.

Women with a vision (New Orleans based). Women With A Vision, Inc (WWAV) is a community-based nonprofit organization, founded in 1989 by a grassroots collective of African-American women in response to the spread of HIV/AIDS in communities of color. The mission of Women With A Vision is to improve the lives of marginalized women, their families and communities by addressing the social conditions that impede their health and well-being. We accomplish this through relentless advocacy, health education, supportive services and community-based participatory research. Women with a vision - sex work d