प्लॉट

Filmmakers Holly Dale and Janis Cole explore the culture of Davie Street, located in the underbelly of Vancouver, where dozens of prostitutes work and live every day. Surprisingly, they find that the sex trade there is stable and largely non-violent, and that the women who work on Davie Street meet daily to discuss safety and health issues and don't use pimps. The film also includes candid interviews with the prostitutes and footage of negotiations with potential clients.

Filmmakers Janis Cole and Holly Dale spent several months getting to know the prostitutes working the Davie Street strip before bringing a small three person crew together to film their story. Davie Street is located in the heart of Vancouver's residential west end, where dozens of prostitutes of every gender and age can be seen openly working day and night. Prostitutes here work together, protecting each other and warding off pimps. The film includes candid interviews with the prostitutes, leisure time spent together, meetings to discuss their safety, a protest to fight for decriminalization and footage of negotiations with potential clients using hidden cameras and microphones. Cole and Dale capture a time and place that has long dispersed but forever remains in the film they spent a year to make and another year promoting. The closeness between filmmakers and prostitutes makes Hookers on Davie a timeless portrait on prostitution.—Janis Cole & Holly Dale