“For the long time, we hold the world on our shoulders”

The program looks at issues of gendered labors of Thai and Filipina women communities in diaspora. This It is part of Sarnt Utamachote’s ongoing research “In Nobody’s Service”, which looks at intersection of service sector, care labor, sex work, interracial marriage, and desire, that shaped the migration route from Thailand and Philippines to Germany.
 
The program opens with an early short documentary about queer migration to Japan “The sex warriors and the samurai”, by Nick Deocampo, which features Joan who worked in the entertainment industry in order to save money for gender transition. The second documentary “Westwarts: Southeast Asian women in West Germany” - which Sarnt collected the archive and digitized - is a collaboration between Southeast Asian Information Center Bochum and Foundation for Women Thailand back in 1989, depicting Thai sex workers, marriage brides, Filipino housemaids, and trafficked women to West Germany. It also features the organization Ban Ying (Thai word for “house of women”): Berlin’s oldest shelter house and consulting center for women who faced trafficking. Continuing this migration history related to sex work (and its political differentiation from prostitution), the last film is first Thai film ever made by sex workers themselves (Empower Foundation Thailand), that mocks the narrative of “saving the victims” via many NGOs against trafficking. It brings awareness to the current political shifts in the narratives regarding this topic. 

Together with Parichat Pai (current coordinator of Ban Ying Berlin), joining via Zoom, and a senior member of Philippines Sexwork Collective from Manila, we aim to unpack this history as well as discuss the changes in society’s acceptance or still stigma about the topic. 

Films:

• The Sex Warriors and The Samurai by Nick Deocampo, Philippines 1995, 26 min. Tagalog with English subtitles
• Westward: Southeast Asian women in West Germany by Southeast Asian Information Center Bochum & Foundation for Women Thailand, West Germany 1990, 38 min.
• The last rescue in Siam by Empower Foundation Thailand, Thailand 2012, 10 min.

Total Film length sum: 81 min. Conversation length: 30 min.


About Dealing in Distance
Initiated by the Goethe-Instituts in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, and Manila, Dealing in Distance is a travelling art festival that brings together artists from Southeast Asia and Germany to explore themes of migration and identity across distance. This event is part of Dealing in Distance — Manila, running from January 30 to February 1.