“Blowin’ Up”, directed and written by Stephanie Wang-Breal
(94 min, 84 minutes shown), examines the attempt of some attorneys, social
workers, and a sympathetic judge in Queens, to avoid prosecuting young women
arrested for prosecution.
The documentary goes back to 2004 and shows many scenes with
the judge, the honorable Toko Serita.
The attorneys all say they want to go after the pimps,
studios, massage parlors, and later Internet operations that they say victimize
young immigrant women.
Pimps often threaten to get young women deported if they don’t
go along.
The film, completed in 2018 by Once in a Blue productions
and aired (very slightly condensed) on PBS POV Oct. 21, doesn’t mention Backpage
particularly, but it sounds in retrospect now like an argument for FOSTA-SESTA,
which passed in April 2018, and which has arguably put many sex workers at risk
but shuttering the sites that they depended on to avoid looking themselves on
the streets. Some of the workers are
trans and usually POC. Many of the other women seem to be from China,
Philippines or Vietnam. Remember that
FOSTA targets prostitution “alone”.
Late in the film, the judge visits her native Japan.
When she returns she learns of people who have been picked
up by ICE and deported.
The PBS presentation of this Tribeca film was followed by a
brief statement by the director.
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