EWL campaign clip ‘For a change of perspective’ (2011)
Watch the English version of the video clip here:
About the clip
The EWL Campaign clip is the centre-piece of the EWL public outreach activities in the framework of the campaign. The one-minute video is available in all EU languages, in original version or in English with sub-titles.
A viral video, it is available on the EWL website, the websites of EWL member organisations, YouTube, vimeo and other social networking sites.
In the clip, a steady stream of women visit a young male prostitute, leaving money on a table in payment for his submission to their desires. At the end, the voice-over in English reads:
If I had to have sex ten times a day with strangers for a living, at what point would I feel sick?
From the beginning surely.
Yet this is the daily reality for prostituted persons.
Prostitution is a form of violence and oppression.
I refuse to be a party to it. What about you?
About the Directors
Patric Jean was born in Belgium in 1968. He studied theatre, literature and cinema at the Brussels University, conservatoire and cinema school (INSAS). He first directed short fiction, then began making documentaries with Les enfants du Borinage – Lettre à Henri Storck (Kids from the coal – a letter to Henri Storck), a film about social problems in the south of Belgium (under the socialist party), causing a political stir in the country. In 2003, Jean directed Might is right (La Raison du plus fort). The film has been broadcast in 15 countries and screened in 40 cinemas in France. Following this was the documentary feature Wall to wall – D’un mur l’autre, and most recently, he completed the feminist film Male Domination. Much more than straightforward assessment of gender disparity, Male Domination follows the tangled skeins of sex, power, suffering and profit to uncover what is at the heart of the increasing divide between men and women. In 2007 his documentary won critical acclaim. Patric Jean lives in Paris and in Belgium while preparing new both fiction and documentary series.
Find out more at: http://www.ladominationmasculine.net/, http://patricjean.blogspot.com/, and http://zeromacho.eu/.
Frédérique Pollet Rouyer was born in Paris in 1970. She holds a PhD in Media Law and a Master in Political Sciences. She directed and produced a documentary entitled Station Lumière in 2003, and then a documentary entitled Quichott, l’Algérien in 2004. She was director assistant to Patric Jean’s documentary Wall to wall – D’un mur l’autre, and his artistic adviser for Male Domination. She produced a photography work The pregnant man, which was selected at the Festival Résistances (Foix, France). Her 2010 documentary 18 years old – 18 ans received the special mention from jury ‘New look’ at the Festival Visions du Réel (Nyon, France), and the special price of the jury at the Festival du Film de l’Education (Dreux, France). She collaborated with Patric Jean on video performance and TV films in 2011. Her latest works include the direction and editing of the campaign clip on rape of the French initiative Osez les Féminisme, and the direction and editing of the campaign clip of the EWL. She now dedicates her work to documentary, video performance and photography.
About the actors
Six actors living in Belgium were hired to feature in the clip: Marcel Gonzalez, Gwen Berrou, Sylvie Sedio, Joséphine Kasta, Nadia Verlé, and Jacqueline Planché.
Marcel Gonzalez was born in 1972 in Belgium and studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Brussels, where he received the First Prize for drama. He has featured in several TV films, and is very active in Belgium, be it as an actor and as a theatre director.
The shooting of the video clip
The video clip was shot in Brussels on 3 June 2011. The voice-overs were made with the help of volunteers on 9 June 2011. Thanks a lot to all of them!
