5 Questions with Fly in Power
Xen Nhà is a documentary maker with a background in creating intimate dialogues and storytelling across sound, film and texts. Their work explores the interplay between personal and collective narratives and the responsibility of listening.
Currently they are the Producer for award-winning documentary (LAAPFF23:Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary), Fly in Power, made in collaboration with Red Canary Song.
They are also a Radio Producer for feminist radio show, Women on the Line at 3CR Community Radio.
(A still from Fly in Power)
No.1
Do give us a little bit of the backstory behind the making of Fly in Power. How was the idea first seeded, how did you first get involved as a producer, who did you collaborate with, how did it evolve to become the documentary we see now?
Fly in Power began as a short film dedicated to highlighting the injustice against the late Song Yang, a Chinese massage worker who fell to her death during a police raid in Flushing, Queens, NYC. Song Yang’s unjust death was the spark for Red Canary Song, a grassroots collective made up of Asian migrant massage workers, Asian sex workers and allies fighting for labour protection and decriminalisation. I first met Red Canary Song (RCS) when I was living in NYC; it was how I became acquainted with Yin Q, one of the organisers at RCS.
I had moved back to Narrm during the pandemic and Yin mentioned they were looking for a producer to develop Fly in Power. It was important to Yin that we have all Asian crew in the production of the film. My friend Yoon Grace Ra had worked on the short film as a Director of Photography and Co-Director, so followed suit for the next version of Fly in Power. Kai Yang, who is also an organiser at RCS, and Melanie Hsu, who composed an original score to our film, and many more members of both RCS and the wider sex worker and Asian-American community supported the making of this film. More than half of our production team are former or current sex workers.
Fly in Power was initially meant to remain as a short film. We wanted to highlight the care work, community and the systemic struggles faced by migrant massage workers. We were filming during the pandemic and given the struggles migrant workers were facing under these conditions, we had to balance our priorities for both the film and for our communities. During the pandemic, RCS met Charlotte, a Korean massage worker, who came to RCS through mutual aid. Charlotte quickly bonded with Yeonhoo Cho from RCS because Yeonhoo was not only able to speak Korean fluently and was also able to bond with Charlotte on a personal level. From there, Charlotte became involved with organising in RCS and is now the lead Korean Outreach Worker. Charlotte is one of the stars of Fly in Power.
No.2
Fly in Power is the first film to centre the narrative of an Asian massage worker in her own words, with her own agency of storytelling and editing. I wonder if you’d like to speak more to that: how did this dynamic come about, and what was put in place to ensure that the space was not extractive or unsafe for the workers you interviewed and spoke with?
More than half of our production team—both behind and in from of the camera—are former or current sex workers and many of us are queer, non-binary and trans Asians. Fly in Power is a body of art made by community. This was important because we are fighting against the narrative of victimhood and anti-trafficking that mainstream media portrays of Asian bodies, sex workers and namely Asian migrant massage workers. All of the people involved with the film are part of the RCS community, so there was already a foundational relationship which in fact grew stronger through the making of Fly in Power.
For Charlotte, she was keen to share her experiences in our film but naturally had hesitations and concerns, as this is the first time she’s been part of a documentary. Charlotte was reassured that she had decision-making power in the edits of the film. My co-directors, Yoon and Yin as well as Yeonhoo (who worked with us as a translator), had their own special relationship with Charlotte, so this eased the process during filming. While Charlotte didn’t end up showing her face in the film, there is so much of her art on screen—from her Korean cooking, to her poetry, and her love for her community.
No.3
Although Fly in Power was filmed in the United States, it presents a powerful story about Asian diaspora massage and sex workers—jobs that are often most readily available for migrant women who are impoverished or undocumented—that translates transnationally. It is especially poignant since there have been significant events in recent years that have led to violent deaths—in particular the Atlanta mass shooting in 2021 where six Asian massage workers were killed. What kinds of discussions do you hope will eventuate, especially in so-called Australia?
I agree. The story, though specific to NYC, can be relatable to Asian immigrant massage workers and sex workers transnationally. The tragedy in Atlanta not only affected Asian massage workers and sex workers [in the United States], but also the wider Asian diaspora. The Asian women who were murdered in Atlanta were mothers, sisters, aunties. The care work they performed helped them to financially provide for their families, and they were punished for it.
The issues that Asian massage workers face are two-fold: they are dealing with laws against sex work that affect their work as well as racist immigration laws. Whether Asian massage workers offer sexual services to clients or not, they are affected by anti-trafficking laws that result in policing and raids of their workplaces. These anti-trafficking laws are based off the narrative of ‘rescue’ and ‘victimhood’, which Prof. Elena Shih elaborates on in the film: how a ‘trafficking to deportation pipeline’ works in propelling the anti-trafficking movement. Even in the instances where someone has been subjected to trafficking, what they will face under anti-trafficking laws is higher policing and risk of deportation, an outcome that is more brutal than death, [as we have seen] for Song Yang, the late Chinese massage worker. This is why it’s important to fight for the decriminalisation of sex work as a step towards liberation.
In 2021 the Victorian Sex Work Decriminalisation Bill was passed in Victoria, and we are slowly seeing the rollout of it now. But because we’re at the early stages of decrim, there are [still] many Asian migrant massage workers and sex workers who are subjected to police raids, precarious visa issues and deportation. Full decriminalisation of sex work would be a step towards addressing these issues, and would include labour protection for all sex workers including massage workers, and lead to better working conditions and more freedom in migrant worker mobility. In contrast, the [mere] legalisation of sex work restricts sex workers regarding where they can work and under what conditions, and results in heavier policing. Migrant workers deserve to move freely for work; they deserve labour protection no matter what industry they work in.
No.4
Fly in Power also features Elena Shih, a scholar and organiser at Brown University, as well as Esther K, who works on the policy front to help advocate for the passing of Stop Violence in the Sex Trades Act in New York state.
There’s also Q, the film’s co-director and a lead member of Red Canary Song, a grassroots organisation that was formed after massage worker Song Yang’s tragic passing in New York City in 2017. What do you think the plurality of voices here does for a film like this?
It shows me that solidarity and movement-building happens [on many levels]: at a policy level, in academic spaces, in kitchens, over dim sum and kimchi, on the streets and in intimate spaces of care.
No.5
In the film, a voiceover is heard saying ‘We allow grief as part of our movement building.’ What do you think the acknowledgement of grief serves, especially as a central component of movement-building? What strategies and practices can help individuals and communities harness the transformative power of grief for positive social change?
RCS’s work is an example of how grief, when shared collectively, can be transformed into a soaring spirit that is stronger than [what had existed] before. Sex workers are very familiar with grief, in particular the older generation, because [they have seen how] sisters have been lost to the hands of the police, systemic violence, suicide and isolation. Sex workers have been holding each other through grief, [whether that’s] in times of war or forced migration of our communities, on top of the fact of us living under white supremacy and capitalism. We cook food for each other; we write poetry; we laugh and cry with each other; we find ways to be resourceful for each other and the people we love; we organise and we get shit done and we do this because we know that grief follows us like a shadow.
Right now we are globally witnessing an overflowing cascade of grief for Palestine: its people, its children, its land, from the river to the sea. We are also witnessing this collective grief on the streets and online. If there’s anything my comrades at RCS have taught me, it’s that being together in breath and body, as well as in art and in community [that] can transform us deeply, especially so in times of grief. We need to be together now more than ever—we can’t let colonialism and imperialism rip our hearts out.
Fly in Power follows Charlotte, a Korean massage worker and core organizer of Red Canary Song (RCS). Through her story, we learn how the incarceration system is pitted against Asian migrant women and their survival. Other RCS members, including Khokhoi, a young body worker, and Professor Elena Shih (Brown University) share powerful insights that debunk the myths of sex trafficking.
Fly in Power is a glimpse into the intimate spaces that not only connect these workers, but is also a testament to the global advocacy of women's rights to work and thrive. This is the first film to center the narrative of an Asian massage worker in her own words, with her own agency of storytelling and editing. The intention of Fly in Power is to honour their practices of care, autonomy, and survival and to raise awareness of the oppressive systems that face us all.
This film has been produced entirely by women, non-binary, trans and queers of the Asian diaspora. More than half of the production team are former or current sex workers.
The production of this film has been generously supported by donations from our community and grants from Asian Women’s Giving Circle and NYWIFT.
More info about Red Canary Song here.