The UCLA Transnational Gender and Labor Working Group, IRLE, and CSW|Streisand Center in collaboration with Red Canary Song and SWOP LA invite you to join the film screening of Fly in Power, followed by a Q&A with Elena Shih and a SWOP LA speaker.

Fly in Power follows Charlotte, a Korean massage worker and core organizer of Red Canary Song (RCS), a social justice collective of Asian diasporic massage workers, sex workers and allies who basebuild through mutual aid. Through her history, we learn how the incarceral system is pitted against Asian migrant women and their survival. The documentary is a glimpse into the intimate spaces that not only connect these women and non-binary queers, but is also a testament to the global advocacy of women’s rights to work and thrive. The documentary is directed by Yin Q, a Queer, Chinese American parent, writer, and sex worker rights advocate, and Yoon Grace Ra, a cultural organizer working with audio/visual media.

This film has been produced entirely by women, non-binary, trans and queers of the Asian diaspora—more than half of the production team are former/current sex workers. Each story centers the narrative of an Asian massage worker in her own words, enabling us to witness the trust built between the film team and the participants with their own agency of storytelling and editing. Fly in Power premiered in March this year in Flushing, Queens. Since then it has been shown at various universities and film festivals including the San Francisco Sex Worker Film Festival, the Los Angeles Asian and Pacific Islander Film Festival where it won Grand Jury Prize Best Documentary, and the 46th Asian American International Film Festival.

A catered reception will follow after screening and Q&A.

*The Darren Star Screening Room is located in Melnitz Hall and situated on the northeast corner of the UCLA campus in Westwood, next to the Broad Art Center and the Murphy Sculpture Garden.*

View event flier PDF.