Sascha Ettinger Epstein is a documentary director/shooter known for raw, observational Australian stories featuring unusual characters. Her credits include “Painting with Light in a Dark World,” “The Oasis,” and “Playing in the Shadows.”
“The Pink House” will premiere at the 2017 DOC NYC film festival on November 15.
W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.
SEE: “The Pink House” is the story of Kalgoorlie’s last original gold-rush brothel, told through the eyes of the whimsical Madam Carmel, and its longest-serving lady of the night, BJ. Although prostitution is technically illegal in Western Australia, this pink tin shed has been servicing the miners of Kal, a remote frontier town, since 1904, and on the same street as the police station!
While the film touches on the scandalous history of Kalgoorlie’s sex industry, and how the business and politics of selling sex has changed over the decades, it is essentially an intimate portrait of two eccentric women clinging to the past and facing an uncertain future, as darker forces swirl around them — and we never could have predicted how diabolical things would become!
W&H: What drew you to this story?
SEE: In 2010 I took a job out in Kalgoorlie, a remote gold mining town in Western Australia, shooting a reality-style cop show. With a reputation built on gold girls and grog, Kal is certainly a place you’d expect to meet some classic wild west characters.
The show had been sold to the network promising brawls, bikies, and brothels, but when I lobbed in town not much crime was happening at all! So getting desperate to deliver some decent rushes to the producer I thought I better organize some stuff myself.
Thus one evening I strolled down Hay Street — the legendary historic red light strip — with the intention of arranging to film a police walkthrough of a brothel, so it would at least provide a bit of action. I had heard only vaguely of the strip’s infamous past as the sex capital of the West. I had no idea brothels are technically illegal in Western Australia.
I rang on the doorbell of the old pink tin shed and a platinum-bobbed older woman with a curiously posh accent opened the gate. As soon as I mentioned a television shoot Madam Carmel, a born entertainer, beckoned me down the creaky hallway and began to regale me with grandiose stories of “The Pink House’s” history, and the weird and wonderful girls and clients, who had passed through it during her 25 year tenure as Madam.
BJ, sex worker, who stood dragging on a smoke at the door of the house, virtually lit up the room with her sensuality and charisma, and clearly had her own story to tell. I was hooked.
I emerged several hours later on a high, wondering what strange world I had just stumbled upon. Lonely and desperate for female company, I started to frequent “The Pink House” on my nights off, to be entertained by Carmel’s conservative views on modern sex, and BJ’s wicked humor.
From the 1890s gold rush to the present day, I was titillated by stories of working girls from all around the world who had come to Kal to make their fortunes. I learned the controversial story of the unwritten Containment Policy under which police turned a blind eye as long as brothels followed strict rules, which effectively enforced apartheid for sex workers.
I heard about the current political and legal stalemate driving the house into extinction while freelance prostitutes — supposedly trafficked Asian women — made a killing in the suburbs. Having worked and lived together for so long, Carmel and BJ radiated almost a mother-daughter dynamic. It was too juicy not to at least have a crack at!
Around 2012 I joined forces with Claire Haywood and we embarked on a film to celebrate these two women and this foremost icon of Australian Goldfields history. After five years of slog, “The Pink House” is where we ended up!
W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?
SEE: I would like people to muse over the strange, remote places in the outback where unusual people go about their extraordinary and ordinary lives. There is so much wonderful untold history out there, and I love characters who passionately live their weird lives outside the mainstream frame of reference.
W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
SEE: We had set out to make a “Grey Gardens”-esque homage to two eccentric women living out in an old pink tin shed in the outback, but when BJ became embroiled in a gruesome murder, our story was derailed in a way we could never have predicted. Trying to remain true to the vision and also keep the film on track after that was pretty tricky — ethically, emotionally, and legally.
We wanted to continue with sensitivity and respect — and also not breach the sub judice laws that are very strict here in Australia. In the end we struck the best balance we could. It is definitely not the film we set out to make, but the old cliché that truth is always stranger than fiction reminds us that we are but playthings of the universe!
W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.
SEE: This film received a small grant from the Australian Government screen agency Screen Australia from a now-defunct initiative called Signature Fund, which was specifically designated for films without a broadcaster that were unconventional and had a strong voice.
The rest of the resourcing was purely the labor of love on the part of myself, producer Claire Haywood and the editor Mat Evans — and included stealing cameras from other productions, and using all our family and personal resources to make the film happen. This was not a lucrative undertaking!
W&H: What does it mean for you to have your film play at DOC NYC?
SEE: It’s a total privilege to know the film will get an international audience, especially at such a great festival. I am just so in love with my characters that I want the world to know about them, and it is truly wonderful they will have a U.S. premiere and get some fans in the northern hemisphere.
This film was particularly difficult to make, and took a lot of years, so it is exciting and gratifying to be included at DOC NYC.
W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?
SEE: I think the best advice I was ever given was “turn off the tally lamp” on the camera — because then no one knows when you are rolling or not.
Worst advice: “Get out of documentary — you’ll be a pauper!” Clearly I didn’t listen. I was also told to have professional boundaries and not to get too involved with my subjects which I think is useless in the type of documentary filmmaking I was undertaking. To get the trust and access you need for a raw portrayal you can’t keep a professional distance.
W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?
SEE: I think it’s really important to learn at least some of the technical side of filmmaking — camera, sound, editing software. A lot of women shy away from doing technical aspects themselves and only want to direct, but honestly if you don’t know how to use a camera and what certain lenses look and feel like, how can you communicate what you want to your DOP, and if you’ve never edited anything, how can you understand coverage?
Also if you skill yourself up, you are unstoppable because you can make films by stealth and you don’t have to wait around for money, handouts, support, collaboration — though those things are always preferable! You can also support yourself on the side by being hired on other productions so it’s a great asset financially. By practicing shooting or editing you really learn to appreciate the fine craft of all the aspects that go into filmmaking.
W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.
SEE: Impossible to answer that question! I love Kim Longinotto’s films “Sisters in Law,” “Rough Aunties,” and “Dreamcatcher,” which all feature remarkable women too. They are so raw and unaffected and she is super courageous and adventurous behind the camera trailblazing through all that dangerous terrain with those volatile subjects.
Longinotto finds exceptional subject matter and works in the observational style that I fell in love with when I first discovered documentary. Despite my appreciation of many other forms now, I still love observational films the best.
W&H: There have been significant conversations over the last couple of years about increasing the amount of opportunities for women directors yet the numbers have not increased. Are you optimistic about the possibilities for change? Share any thoughts you might have on this topic.
SEE: We have had a big push in Australia for gender equity in film and I think it is giving a lot of women opportunities and eroding some of the traditional barriers. We also have some of the best female drama directors and cinematographers globally so that’s always a good point of inspiration. Patriarchal attitudes are deeply entrenched, though, so it will take a generation or two for real parity to happen.
In documentary filmmaking in Australia, I think there are actually more women than men — we eat ’em alive! And to be honest I have always found being female a total advantage — in fact it’s something of a secret weapon. Subjects don’t feel threatened by me, they don’t get too formal, people in power often underestimate me, and people trust me with their children, so there are seriously great bonuses.
I don’t feel there are a lot of places in documentary making that I can’t access as a female, so I’m pretty happy to be in documentary at this time in the evolution of the world! You do have to have the courage of your convictions though. I remember standing — as a 5ft 2in woman — in a room full of 6ft 4in police sergeants, and having to command their cooperation for the police show we were making in Western Australia. You have to believe in your ability in every situation.
