Red Canary Song is an abolitionist collective dedicated to decriminalizing sex work. Song Yang fell and died from the second floor of her massage parlor during a police raid, and thus Red Canary Song was formed in her honor. It consists of massage workers, sex workers and allies who organize for the protection of migrant laborers.
by Julia Diorio
See the NYC Premiere of feature documentary Fly in Power on February 24 @7:45PM at LOOK Cinemas (657 West 57th Street) as part of New York City’s 12th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival. Tickets now on sale!
Fly In Power, a documentary film co-directed by Yin Q and Yoon Grace Ra, highlights the experience of Charlotte, a Korean massage worker and poet. We learn about Charlotte through her environment, though she is hesitant to show her face due to the severity of her story. Charlotte speaks to the audience in Korean, accompanied with English subtitles.
“When we met her, prior to becoming part of Red Canary Song (RCS), she was already doing the care work for her community–gathering workers together for meals, cooking and raising mutual aid for one another,” Yin Q, co-director, said. “Though there is so much stigma and shame around sex work, especially in our immigrant communities, Charlotte understood why bodycare workers need to advocate in solidarity. It was vital for the film to center the voice of a migrant body care worker.”
The memorials and vigils for the eight massage workers who were killed in the racist shooting in Atlanta were moving. The shooter began attacking after the worker asked for a tip. As Charlotte reads the names of the lives lost, combined with the shots of her food prepared for the vigils, viewers are instantly connected with the depth and pain these lives lost have caused for the Red Canary Song community. Her poem, repeating the lines “what should we do,” is representative of her genuine struggle. She’s lost, she doesn’t know what to do except to keep working. The camerawork is very intimate, often handheld and ultra zoomed.
Esther, the young woman who is one of the core organizers, to me has one of the most inspiring stories. She shares that she was previously working with her childhood church on the opposite side of Red Canary. It was only once she realized that people were lying, that she worked with Red Canary to undo all the work she had done with the church. Her honesty and determination was inspiring. Each woman has such horrifying stories about abuse and misconduct, yet it shows a pattern.
“Anti-trafficking messaging, powered by white celebrities and money from the moral right, doesn’t actually center the needs and experiences of the women they proclaim to save,” Q said. “Fly in Power exposes the hypocrisy and harm that is carried out by the anti-trafficking movement and the film uplifts the way massage workers and sex workers care for one another and mobilize for policy change.”
The amount of miscommunication and manipulation between law enforcement and massage professionals is disheartening, because of the amount of time and money it takes to get a license. Fly In Power does a great job at illustrating the different types of systemic oppression in place for these workers, and the discrimination they face even when licensed. It’s important work, but it’s also incredibly dangerous work for the women who are sharing their stories, some of whom are currently being tried for operating without a license. The film beautifully weaves together times of passion and times of peace, times of pain and times of strength.
The entire film was re-edited nearly a week before its premiere, due to the subject’s discomfort. It would have been very easy for the editorial team to disregard their concerns, yet they sat down and made a commitment to tell Red Canary’s story correctly and to the best of their ability. It helps audiences understand sex work in immigrant communities and equips them to speak confidently and help others about it.
“The need for safety and respect for the need for a participant to own and be involved in how their story is told was one of our key tenants,” Q said. “So much media is made off the stories of sex workers, but the stories get hijacked and twisted to fit a storyline that is imposed by the media makers. We wanted to ensure that all participants in the film would have a say on the editing process so our post production work was in constant dialogue with the people on the screen.”
To close with Charlotte being held in the water, safe, after everything she’s been through, is beautiful. She has supported so many people with her cooking, her line of work, everything. So for her to be able to take a moment and lean on her friends and the volunteers of Red Canary Song, is relieving. She ends with a story about her friend committing suicide. “You can’t even die the way you want to.” There’s love and community shared between cooking and food, even distributing food for their community and collaborating together. Within that, there is a large emphasis placed on collective care and community.
Fly In Power was incredibly dense with material, featuring dozens of personal stories and years of history and you are left with the sense that Red Canary’s story is only the beginning.
“For labor conditions within an industry to improve, the workers need to have equal rights, the same as within other labor sectors,” Q said. “We need to decriminalize sex work and unlicensed massage work for women and queer folk to live and work with dignity and safety.”
Towards the end, there is a specific overhead shot. The women were swimming in a pool to create a whirlpool, and swapped directions. It’s something I did with friends as a child, and the subtitles as the women laughed and struggled against the current they created simply said “(glee)”. To showcase all of the hardship these women went through to get to this moment of joy with friends was incredibly powerful.
“We hope that Fly in Power will educate the public on the complexities and truth about trafficking,” Q said.
Julia Diorio
Julia Diorio is a journalism student at New York University, and an editor at Washington Square News.
About Winter Film Awards
New York City’s 12th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival runs February 21-25 2024 in New York City and includes 82 outstanding films, a diverse mixture of animated films, documentaries, comedies, romances, dramas, horror films, music videos and web series of all lengths. Our five-day event is jam-packed with screenings and Q&A sessions at NYC’s LOOK Cinemas, six Education sessions/workshops and a variety of filmmaker networking events all coming to a glittering close on February 25 with our red-carpet gala Awards Ceremony.
Winter Film Awards is dedicated to showcasing the amazing diversity of voices in indie film and our 2024 lineup is 58% made by women and half by or about people of color. Filmmakers come from 23 countries and 41% of our films were made in the New York City area. 13 films were made by students and 26 are works from first-time filmmakers.
Winter Film Awards programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Promotional support provided by the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment.
Visit https://winterfilmawards.com/wfa2024/ for more information.
