Who Cares? Interview with director Rosie Dransfeld

Posted 11 years ago by myetvmedia

“Who Cares” follows the cyclical addictions, violence and emotional turmoil of the highly vulnerable girls and women who are Sex Trade workers in Edmonton, Canada. It presents a heart-wrenching story that is incredibly important to watch.

“Who Cares” made its International Premiere January 8th, 2013. Gemini Award winning director Rosie Dransfeld, a master of cinema vérité, is no stranger to documentary making. She received multiple awards including Best Doc for Broke. (2009).

“Who Cares” will affect you deeply. It beautifully weaves together the stories of 3 women against the backdrop of the reality of their precarious circumstances. Meet Nancy, Courtney, “the prostitute from 107th Avenue” and Shelly, the sweet-natured hopeful spirit. We discover a very personal, touching side to these women as they share their dreams and fears. “WhoCares” is a gritty, heartbreaking and massively powerful film.

We were fortunate to have director Rosie Dransfeld stop by our studio to talk about why she made this documentary. It was a deliberate choice by Dransfeld to have the project have no commercial ties and she greatly appreciated the support and expertise of the NFB team. Dransfeld did not want to compromised her relationship with these very vulnerable young women, sex workers with so little, who had the courage to share their stories with her. These are people who are already suffering from being exploited. Dransfield felt it would have corrupted the delicate process of working with these fragile women for this to be anything other than a purely independent documentary.

Dransfeld’s impressive ability to capture each woman’s most compelling moments allows the viewer to be swept up in what is the emotional whirlwind of their lives. The film allows the viewer to form their own opinion without the narrative handholding that most documentaries offer up. Dransfeld puts the camera in the hands of the sex trade workers and leaves them to record what moments of their lives they care to share. From Courtney’s self-filmed moments (stories of mutilation and almost being choked to death by a client), to conversations with the bar owner who knows the girls, the film never feels contrived. The viewer is left to decide how to feel about the characters and their decisions. This is a key element of the genre of cinema vérité.

“Who Cares” is a prime example of why Dransfeld has earned a reputation for being a Master of cinema vérité. It is routine in Edmonton, that every night the RCMP with Project KARE, have to ask multiple girls and women in the sex trade for samples to make a record of their DNA in the event of the need to use it in the future for identification of the body in the case of accidental death, homicide or suicide. In Canada the discrepancies between those on the social fringes and the rest of society is so great and the numbers in this circumstance growing, that shocking as it may seem, Edmonton, Alberta is an epicenter for sex trade worker homicides. Who Cares is an indictment of Canadian policy on prostitution, which leaves the most vulnerable unprotected. Follow Shelly on her quest to get clean and retire. This film tugs at your conscience and never lets go.

Immediately any preconceived notions and judgments I had about Sex Trade workers was replaced by a longing for the happiness and well being of Courtney and Shelly. In one particularly gut wrenching moment, Shelly listens to the robins chirp and reminisces about her daughter, Robin.

Because if I wasn’t selfish, I wouldn’t have killed her with my own drugs. I had to face what I did to her.

A moment that left me shattered.

Dransfeld’s enormous empathy for these women is apparent from start to finish and her ability to put her subject matter before the success of the film is what MAKES this film successful. Not many movies touch on such poignant stories as this one does. A must see at this year’s Doc Festival.

Join us here for the interview with director, Rosie Dransfeld as she talks about the process of making this film, the challenging aspects and what happened to the women in the film once the production was over.


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Who Cares? Interview with director Rosie Dransfeld

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