Love For Sale
As Oscar contender ‘Anora’ returns to Chichester Cinema, this talk will explore the rich and varied history of sex work on the big screen.
Sean Baker’s demi-monde caper ‘Anora’ is a hotly tipped Oscar contender, and success on the night would put it in a long tradition of Academy Award-winning films about sex work. Why does playing a lady of the night so often guarantee Oscars success? And why is the cinema so fascinated with the oldest profession? Where society turns a blind eye, movies, from Fellini’s ‘Nights of Cabiria’ (1957) to Alan Pakula’s ‘Klute’ (1971) to the hit romcom ‘Pretty Woman’ (1990), sprinkle stardust on the street corner. Alongside films that glamorise the brothel, there is also a complementary lineage of feminist cinema advocating for sex workers’ rights, and illuminating a little-understood world, both in documentary and fiction, going right back to the silent era. In this illustrated lecture with clips, Pamela Hutchinson will explore the portrayal on screen of what Beeban Kidron’s scandalous 1993 documentary called ‘Hookers, Hustlers, Pimps and their Johns’.
100m inc Q&A
Tickets £7.50
Sat 22 Feb 10:30 - In the Auditorium
