May 10, 2016 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

It screened to critical acclaim in Montreal and Quebec City in May 2015, and in September it began a six-month tour of cities throughout Quebec. Now, Ève Lamont’s feature documentary Le commerce du sexe (The Sex Trade) will be available across Canada in download-to-own (DTO) and video-on-demand (VOD) formats at NFB.ca and the iTunes Store, as of Tuesday, May 17. DVD copies of the film will also be available for purchase at NFB.ca, or by phone at 1-800-267-7710. A troubling, in-depth look at the underside of the sex trade and the issues it raises, Le commerce du sexe was co-produced by Nicole Hubert and Sylvie Van Brabant (Les Productions du Rapide-Blanc) and Nathalie Cloutier (NFB), with executive producer Colette Loumède (NFB).

In this follow-up to Lamont’s 2010 documentary, L’imposture (a film that sparked concern over the plight of women struggling to leave the sex trade), the filmmaker meets with various players in Quebec’s sex industry: current and former pimps, women taking part in prostitution, massage parlour owners, a police officer, a sociologist, a renowned investigative journalist, and even several johns. Wide-ranging and incisive, the film re-examines an activity that’s often been trivialized or even glorified.

*** ^1/2
“Essential viewing.”
‒ Éric Moreault, Le Soleil

“This documentary should be screened everywhere.”
‒ Benoît Dutrizac, Dutrizac, l’après-midi, 98.5

“Enlightening and troubling.”
‒ Claude Bernatchez, Première heure, ICI Radio-Canada

“An engaged documentary that’s essential to understand the world we live in.”
‒ Charles-Henri Ramond, Séquences

“An auteur shock doc.”
‒ Sylvia Galipeau, La Presse+

“Harsh words. Powerful images. Thus exposed, the odious mechanics of this modern-day form of slavery are infinitely sad.”
‒ Fabien Deglise, Le Devoir

Le commerce du sexe had a resoundingly successful tour of Quebec, with 37 screenings in 22 cities between September 2015 and April 2016. The film was also shown at the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois, the Outaouais Film Festival, Vues sur mer de Gaspé (where Lamont was honorary president) and Femmes en résistance in Arcueil, France. In addition, it received a 2015 Media Award from children’s rights advocacy organization Beyond Borders ECPAT Canada.

About the filmmaker

A seasoned director and camerawoman, Ève Lamont is a free spirit who explores social issues that are often overlooked. Beginning with her first feature documentary, Méchante job (2001), she has consistently made socially engaged films (The Fight for True Farming in 2005, L’imposture in 2010) that give a voice to people living on the fringes of consumer society. In 2003, her film Squat! won the Best Direction – Canadian Feature Documentary award at Hot Docs in Toronto. Her latest work, Le commerce du sexe, is a behind-the-scenes foray into the sex industry, a clandestine world fraught with serious social repercussions.

Ninth Floor
will also be available for purchase as of May 17.

As of May 17, Ninth Floor (NFB), a feature documentary by Mina Shum, will be available in download-to-own (DTO) and video-on-demand (VOD) formats at NFB.ca and the iTunes Store, across Canada and the United States, as well as on DVD. Named to Canada’s Top Ten, an annual list of the country’s best films chosen by a Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) panel, the film explores Montreal’s infamous “Sir George Williams Riot.” It screened in venues across Canada this past winter to mark Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.

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Le Commerce du Sexe Facebook (French only)