This year movies focus on international documentaries, sex worker portraits and activist shorts. The 2009 movies represent new trends in sex worker cinema, the intimate focus on individual sex workers with a new respect for their courage in the face of hazards of the work and escalating repression. New activist shorts also mark currents trend including "how-to," safety education for sex workers, and unabashed, playful and celebratory sex worker rights propaganda. We encourage activists to attend the Friday, June 5th show at Artist's Television Access, films and discussion on "Sex Work, Trafficking and Labor Migration: Views from Inside The Sex Industry."

The 2009 Fest includes a week of events: Saturday. May 30th- A Radar benefit hosted by Michelle Tea with Dorothy Allison, Kirk Read and more; Sunday, May 31st- Two events-An All Day Shopping Orgy/ Kinky Gifts, Sex Worker Crafts Show and Garage Sale at Center for Sex & Culture featuring entertainment including Ckiara Rose reading from "Song of Men Slaves"; May 31st- late night party at Diva's sponsored by Sex Workers Outreach Project; Monday, June 1st- Sex Workers Outreach Project Hospitality Day and Roundtable for sex workers and allies; Tuesday, June 2nd- Whore-A-Palooza, with Stripper Karaoke and a Sex Worker Idol Contest at El Rio- sex worker musicians including Mariko Passion and Mistress of Ceremonies, Annie Danger; Wednesday and Thursday, June 3rd and 4th- Army of Lovers, performances by male sex workers, curated by Kirk Read at Center For Sex & Culture; Friday June 5th Two events -Movies at Artists' Television Access 7-10 PM; Late night- 9PM-3am, Cirque X" at Paradise Lounge benefit for St. James Infirmary, 10 year anniversary, a carnival of decadence with amazing fire troops and aerial acrobatics to sexy burlesque shows, exotic dancers, XXX porn stars, drag queens and fierce DJs!; Sunday June 7th is Intersections: Krip Se! Krip Sex Work! Will be a ground breaking evening of film and discussion on interconnections, sex work and the Krip community. The Sex Worker Fest also introduces work from artists including cartoons by Modern Hooker at http://www.modernhooker.com and films online starting May 30th at buymybloomers.com.

Movies include local and international premieres including Death of a Whore, a Spanish-language biography of Grisélidis Réal, whose re-burial caused a recent international scandal ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/09/prostitute-griselidis-rea_n_173212.html ); "Happy Endings" with interviews from massage parlor workers in Rhode Island as they are confronted with the racism and xenophobia of local anti-prostitution activists; Science Friction with "Cinema of Desire" in this portrait of a trans sex worker from Thailand; "You're Welcome," a tender and humorous story of 'the whore next door' from Norway; a panel and international feature about sexual services for disabled clients; sex worker activist produced short docs and experimental work include "Prostitution Free Zone" by PJ Starr, "Flipping the Lens: A Look at $pread Magazine," and "Know Your Rights" from Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP) Chicago; experimental shorts from Renegade Evolution and music videos from Scarlot Harlot; plus clips from your neighbors' home grown porn with Blowfish, Kink.com, Jupiter Spiral, No Fauxxx, and Good Vibrations and New School of Erotic Touch including kink/SM/BD/fetish/sex ed from San Francisco with stars including Madison Young in "Bride of Sin." This year the San Francisco Sex Worker Festival is honored to share eight short works from sexworkerspresent, the Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers. These powerful productions and collected work provide a valuable library of first person accounts of sex worker's lives and organizing efforts in Asia and around the World. We also thank COSWAS, Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters from Taiwan for assistance curating this festival.


Curators and hosts include Scarlot Harlot, Kirk Read, Laure McElroy, Luna Pantera, Annie Danger, Madeline Lowe and Mariko Passion. Sponsors include the National Queer Arts Festival http://www.queerculturalcenter.org, Trannyfest http://www.trannyfest.com, International Sex Worker Foundation for Art Culture and Education http://www.iswface.org, the St. James Infirmary http://www.stjamesinfirmary.org, Breaking The Silence Film and Arts Festival, BAYSWAN http://www.bayswan.org, The Center for Sex & Culture http://www.sexandculture.org, SWOP-USA http://www.swopusa, Good Vibrations, http://www.goodvibes.com, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and others to be announced!