Bangkok Girl

Jordan Clark
High Banks Entertainment
42:30 minutes • 2005
Also available on DVD

"****Four stars…a remarkably accomplished and beautifully photographed debut documentary that puts a human face on a devastating social issue that, sadly, is the fate of too many impoverished girls…"
  – Michael Reid, Times Colonist (Victoria)

Jordan Clark's tragic documentary provides a glimpse into Thailand's notorious and booming sex tourism industry through the experiences of a 19-year-old bar girl named Pla. Working in the bars from the age of thirteen, Pla has managed to avoid selling her body—a remarkable revelation given her surroundings—but her refusal to take part in this all-too-common profession for young Thai women cannot last. The introduction of falangs, or foreigners, to Thailand has forever changed the city, the economy, the Thai people's lives and desires. A daring and unabashed look at a popular Western predilection through the eyes of one girl, this film challenges the accepted worldwide practice of sex tourism.

Subject(s): Asian studies, Poverty, Sex trade workers, Women