Zero Paragraph - Cinema and Prostitution – vol.1 is the precious box recently published by Minerva RaroVideo for Illegal & Wanted, the series edited by Roberto Silvestri and conceived to show unknown, neglected and criticized movies. The box, edited by Elfi Reiter, includes two movies about prostitution: Working Girls by Lizzie Borden and The Good Woman of Bangkok by Dennis O’Rourke. They offer a direct contact with the everyday life of a right-less business that subjugates women.

THE GOOD WOMAN OF BANGKOK by Dennis O’Rourke

(Australia 1991) 82’

Aoi, a thailandese prostitute, tells plainly to the director her critical situation, her hard  right-less life. The opening subtitle says that the marriage annulment of the disillusioned fourty-three-year-old director led him to go to Bangkok, considered mecca of sexual life for western tourists, to have an in-depth knowledge of triviality and depth of love. Primarily he went there  to live a no-sufferings relationship together with a thailandese prostitute. From the beginning, the movie proceeds on two different stands of a story: Aoi's current life and her past. Aoi is her fictitious name which means “tender”. Told by her old aunt or through images of her birthplace, the story is a way to evoke a world that doesn't exist anymore. Besides, O'Rourke takes us in a world composed by masses of drunken western men that tell their stories of abuses of power on women. This is exactly the issues that he intended to point at: the ambiguity of the prostitution and a new colonization. The ending subtitles say that, before leaving Thailand, the director bought lands and a farm to Aoi. After a year, when he came back, she wasn't there: she had gone back to Bangkok where she worked in an ambiguous massage local. When he asked her why, she answered: “this is my fate”.

1991, Australia/Great Britain

81’, 35mm, color

direction, screenplay, photography: Dennis O’Rourke

editing: Tim Litchfield

leading actress: Yagwalak Chonchanakun (Aoi)

executive producer: Dennis O’Rourke

production: O’Rourke and Associate Filmakers Pty. Ltd, Australian Film Commission and Channel Four Films

languages: original subtitles: Italian

EXTRA FEATURES: interview to Porpora Marcasciano, vice-president of the MIT (Transsexual Identity Movement)

Biography of Porpora Marcasciano (extra)

Vice-president of the MIT (Transsexual Identity Movement), in charge of a project against prostitution managed by Bolognese Municipality and by Italian General Confederation of Labor. She deals with the reconstruction of the history of transsexualism. She wrote Among Roses and Violets (2002), Fabulous Storytellers (2008), Anthology, gender sex and culture of the Seventies (2007).

WORKING GIRLS by Lizzie Borden

(USA 1986) 90’

A working day spent by Molly and her colleagues in an apartment in New York.

premiere: 1986 Cannes Festival

releasing date in USA: march 1987

awards: Jury special prize at 1987 Sundance Film Festival, mention for Best Actress at 1988 Indipendent Spirit Awards for Louise Smith.

Working Girls is not only a movie about sex and eroticism but it investigates behind-the-scenes business dealings. The girls hate to be called “bookers”, they prefer “working girls”. They love to be economically independent and have flextime. Their names are Gina, Molly and Dawn and all of them have stable sentimental relationships. Sometimes they argue with the maitresse over shifts. The movie is in fact a reflection about labor law. Sex industry is compared to the serial factory work: Molly meets a man after another.

1986, Usa, 89’, 35 mm, color

director: Lizzie Borden

screenplay: Lizzie Borden, Sandra Kay

photography: Judy Irola

music: David Van Tieghem

sound: Cindy Friedman

set designing: Kurt Ossenfort

artistic direction: Leigh Kyle

costume direction: Elisabeth Ross

stage effect: Idemi Yamamoto

editing: Lizzie Borden

assistant director: Vicky Funari

cast: Louise Smith (Molly), Deborah Banks (Diane), Liz Caldwell (Liz), Marusia Zach (Gina), Amanda Goodwin (Dawn), Boomer Tibbs (Bob), Eli Hasson (voce di Hassid), Tony Whiting (voce del cliente di Gina), Richard Davidson (Jerry), Ronald Willoughby (John), Paul Slimak (Jay), Fred Neumann (Fantasy Fred), Patience Pierce (Kathy), Ellen McElduff (Lucy), Grant Wheaton (Robert), Richard Leacock (Joseph), Martin Haber (Don), Carla-Maria Sorey (Debbie), Michael Holland (Miles), Dan Natu (George, il cuoco), Ron Manning (Charles), Fred T. Baker (il droghiere), Janne Peters (April), Norbert Brown (Neil), Helen Nicholas (Mary), Benjamin Egbuna (Bongo), Chan Lee (Joe), Raymond Moy (Bill), Lu Yu, Roger Babb (Paul), Saunder Finard (Elliott)

producers: Lizze Borden, Andi Gladstone

associated producer: Margareth Smilov

executive producer: Christine Le Goff

languages: English  subtitles: Italian

EXTRA FEATURES: trailer, feature-length audio commentary by director Lizzie Borden, an interview to her