Like many other industries during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, sex workers were completely disrupted from their professional line of work. Andrea Werhun, who worked as a stripper in Toronto prior to the pandemic, adapted by transitioning her work to a form of contact-less sex work through online videos. Filmmaker Nicole Bazuin captures this experience in her thoughtfully energetic documentary short, Last Night at the Strip Club. The short film was created as part of the CBC’s Creative Relief Project, which funded projects during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a remarkable narrative that blends in staged reenactments with real life footage, and ends up revealing a compelling story about resiliency and creative vigour. Bazuin was kind enough to speak with Film Inquiry about her film during the 2021 Fantasia International Film Festival.
Wilson Kwong for Film Inquiry: Since this isn’t the first time you’ve worked with Andrea Werhun, can you talk about how the two of you have collaborated with each other over the years?
Nicole Bazuin: Andrea and I have a really unique creative collaboration and personal friendship that’s at the basis of what we do. We’ve been friends for nearly a decade now, and our first project together was a book called Modern Whore: A Memoir, which was published in 2018. It’s a collection of Andrea’s short stories about her experiences escorting in Toronto, combined with my creative portraits of her. And not only is Andrea a talented writer, but she’s also, as you can see in this movie, an incredible onscreen presence. So we created an adaptation of the book, which is also called Modern Whore, and premiered at SXSW in 2020. We are currently working on the expanded edition of the Modern Whore book, upcoming in spring of 2022 from Strange Light, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada. The expanded edition includes a whole new set of stories and photos stemming from Andrea’s time as a stripper. And then, of course, we’ve also worked together on this most recent short film Last Night at the Strip Club. We’re continuing to build on the work we’ve been doing together and seeing where it takes us.
Given that you’ve known Andrea for over 10 years and have that personal connection with her, did you find that this made it easier or harder for you as a filmmaker?
Nicole Bazuin: I think that our personal friendship and connection unlocks a really exciting amount of creative potential. It also contributes to the amount of enjoyment we get from collaborating because we have fun along the way. When my role is the filmmaker, I’m certainly considering an objective perspective when crafting the film. But I also think there’s something to be said for the depth that’s gained from knowing my subject very well, and how that can offer a really precious and rare point of view. And I think the outcome speaks for itself because it’s also a reflection of the spirit of our friendship and our love and trust for each other that I hope radiates from the projects that we do together.
I think it definitely shows in the film, and perhaps is reflected in the tone of the film, which tackles serious subject matter, but is also quite bubbly in many ways. I assume that was a conscious decision?
Nicole Bazuin: Yes, absolutely. I wanted to make a film with some playfulness and humour to it as a reprieve, while also existing as a sincere representation of how the pandemic has impacted Andrea’s life after the strip clubs closed. It represents hopefulness amidst this really difficult time.
Can you talk about your decision to reenact certain events during the film, as opposed to filming actual events? Was this done because of the restrictions of the lockdowns during COVID?
Nicole Bazuin: Filmmaking with the COVID protocols in place meant being fairly precise in what I wanted to capture, and keeping things as simple and streamlined as possible. What I wanted to focus on was Andrea’s last days at the strip club and her transition into contact-less sex work while pursuing her creative dreams. The film is centered on three confessional-style interviews with Andrea, one of which involves a stripper makeup tutorial. I was inspired by the DIY instructional makeup videos that you would see on YouTube, and how oftentimes they’re telling personal stories as they’re applying makeup. From there, the re-enactments were chosen to illuminate the storytelling, as much of the film involves past events before the strip club closed. The most elaborate re-enactment is a flashback to a client at the strip club asking Andrea if she will tongue kiss him. To avoid an additional cast member due to COVID, Andrea plays both herself and the client. Though this choice was a result of the constraints of lockdown, I think it adds to the comedic value and showcases Andrea’s acting chops. The film does have a couple of vérité-style scenes which were able to be captured, specifically Andrea meeting with her editor over zoom and on a walk with a client.
You’ve already alluded to this, but what were some challenges while shooting the film during COVID, amidst all the ongoing lockdown protocols?
Nicole Bazuin: Production was in September 2020 in Toronto, and while in lockdown leading up to the shoot there was quite a bit of uncertainty as to the scope of this film. COVID meant that we had to keep our footprint light and our crew numbers as small as possible while following a strict set of guidelines. Lockdown was a challenge in terms of locations, and we weren’t able to secure an actual strip club setting. Our saving grace was that Oasis Aqualounge very graciously allowed us to shoot at their gorgeous facilities. Thankfully, Oasis had the features — a golden stripper pole and a stunning backlit bar — required to represent the strip club, which was a tremendous help to the visual style of the piece. Our brilliant DOP Nina Djacic shot this film while her arm was broken and in a cast, and with a very small but mighty crew. Despite those challenges, Nina made magic, and she’s been nominated for a Canadian Society of Cinematographers Award for Best Cinematography in a Documentary Short for this film! The awards ceremony is coming up in the fall.
Last Night at the Strip Club is currently screening as part of the Documentaries from the Edge program at the 2021 edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival.
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