The Celluloid Bordello: Depictions of sex work in film with Juliana Piccillo
Juliana Piccillo is an award-winning filmmaker, writer and sex worker rights activist. She is the producer of “I was a Teenage Prostitute” and “The Celluloid Bordello,” and was a story consultant for Sean Baker on "Red Rocket,” a Palme d’or-nominated film. As a visiting scholar at the University of Arizona for ten years, she taught film, video and television production.
In this episode, we talk about:
* Juliana’s recent documentary, “Celluloid Bordello” about depictions of sex work in film (3:12)
* The old motion picture rating system, which only allowed sex work, homosexuality, and mixed race relationships if those depicted were shown being punished (4:14)
* Nicole’s BA thesis, “Le Fille Publique: Depictions of Sex Work in 19th-Ccentury French literature” (12:32)
* How the patriarchy puts men into a box (16:57)
* Juliana’s experience as a sex worker: in her teens vs. returning in her 40’s and 50’s (30:12)
* How Juliana created an uproar by hosting a sex worker film festival while teaching at the University of Arizona and ended up on O’Reily and CNN (33:52)
* Born into Brothels: A horrible white savior complex documentary (that somehow won an Academy Award) about a sex worker community in Calcutta, India (40:54)
* How stereotypical depictions of trafficking victims satisfies the revenge-rescue fantasy in awful men. (43:34)
* What growing our own food and sex work have in common (56:48)
* Juliana-approved sex work movies (throughout- see show notes for list)
Show notes:
www.whoresonfilm.com [http://www.whoresonfilm.com]
IG: @whoresonfilm [https://www.instagram.com/whoresonfilm/]
I was a Teenage Prostitute [https://www.amazon.sg/I-was-a-Teenage-Prostitute/dp/B004QOAK1A] and The Celluloid Bordello [https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/the-celluloid-bordello/umc.cmc.47mdamvykmtq50j9qtzm0oxio] are available on Prime, Apple TV and PinkLabel.tv [http://pinklabel.tv].
Conor Habib podcast [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/against-everyone-with-conner-habib/id1298708750]
Sex work movies that Juliana loves: Sweet Charity, Gypsy, Pretty Baby, Lizzie Borden’s Working Girls, Tangerine, Angel, Red Rocket