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Buy Bye Beauty is a 2001 documentary film by Swedish director and performance artist Pål Hollender. The film is about the way Latvian sex industry is fueled by Swedish businessmen visiting Riga and sex tourists from Sweden. Although the director firmly asserts that "The film was meant for Swedes and was about Swedes",[1] it caused controversy in Latvia, particularly for its assertion that the actual number of women engaged in sex industry is substantially much higher than the figures given by Latvian authorities. The film was shot in Riga in July 2000. The narration of the film is in English, with interviews conducted in Russian and Latvian.
In Latvia, soon after its first screening at the Gothenburg Film Festival in February 2001, the film was seen as a purposeful attempt to distort the country's image given that it was supported by the Swedish Film Institute. Latvian President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga called the film "political propaganda", Prime Minister Andris Bērziņš suggested that the country could file an international criminal case against the film's authors, and the Prosecutor-General's Office advised the Interior Ministry to ban Hollender from entering the country. TV3 Sweden, which aired the documentary twice, apologised to Latvians for its negative content.[2] Hollender said in 2006 that despite two invitations received, he avoided visiting Latvia since the controversy.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Interview with Hollender, April 2006
- ^ Sex industry sparks controversy Central Europe Review, February 19, 2001
[edit] See also
