Our Bodies Our Business

Prostitutes’ Rights Activists at the 5th International Conference on AIDS in Montreal, 1989. Edited and directed by Geraldine George with historic footage from ACT UP New York filmmaker, Catherine Gund for the PrEP and Sex Work consultation in Toronto, October 19-20, 2016. Sponsored by Triple-X Workers’ Solidarity Association of B.C. in partnership with University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health with funds from Elton John AIDS Foundation.

As part of ACT UP NYC’s Diva TV Project, in June 1989 filmmaker Catherine Gund videoed events and activism taking place during the Fifth International Conference on AIDS in Montreal.

Included in this footage was Gund’s interviews with sex workers’ rights activists Cheryl Overs, Carol Leigh (AKA the Scarlot Harlot), Valerie Scott, Tracey TIEF, and the late Danny Cockerline and Andrew Hunter.

In 2016, with Gund’s and the featured activists’ permission and essential support from Triple-X Workers’ Solidarity Association of B.C., filmmaker Geraldine George compiled the footage featuring sex workers’ rights activism into Our Bodies Our Business, Part One (OBOB1), a 24-min documentary.

OBOB1 illustrates how in the early years of the AIDS crisis while facing a mounting death toll, the withholding of life-saving drugs and systematic scapegoating of prostitutes, these pioneering activists pushed back with incredible intellect, performance and actions.

ACTIVISTS FEATURED, IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:

CAROL LEIGH (AKA THE SCARLOT HARLOT)

CHERYL OVERS

DANNY COCKERLINE

VALERIE SCOTT

TRACEY TIEF

ANDREW HUNTER

CAMERA AND INTERVIEWS:
CATHERINE GUND/DIVA TV

ADDITIONAL INTERVIEWS:
GERRI WELLS

POSTPRODUCTION SOUND:
JACKIE GALLANT

SUBTITLES:
JELENA VERMILION

EDITOR/DIRECTOR:
GERALDINE GEORGE

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

CAROL LEIGH (AKA THE SCARLOT HARLOT), CHERYL OVERS, DANNY COCKERLINE, VALERIE SCOTT, TRACEY TIEF, ANDREW HUNTER, CATHERINE GUND, ANDREW SORFLEET, JELENA VERMILLION, TRIPLE-X WORKERS’ SOLIDARITY ASSOCIATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, THE ELTON JOHN FOUNDATION, and DALLA LANA SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Other Works

Podcast Interview with Scarlot Harlot and Jelena Vermilion (Plus Sex Workers Take Back The Night Excerpts)
Free Whores
Sex Worker Art, prepared for 2004 Ziteng Sex Worker Conference, Hong Kong
Laure McElroy: Images, Poems and Passions