Live Nude Girls Unite! (2000)

Synopsis: In her smart, funny, and poignant first-person documentary LIVE NUDE GIRLS UNITE!, Julia Query, a writer, stand-up comic, and exotic dancer, chronicles the unionization of San Francisco's Lusty... In her smart, funny, and poignant first-person documentary LIVE NUDE GIRLS UNITE!, Julia Query, a writer, stand-up comic, and exotic dancer, chronicles the unionization of San Francisco's Lusty Lady club. Query and her cowriter-codirector, Vicky Funari (PAULINA), also a former Lusty Lady dancer, use snapshots from Julia's childhood, bits from her stand-up act, and comic-book style animation to illustrate the lesbian feminist's path from grad school to the peep show. Query's comment that before joining the sex industry, she had "never worked with so many women with college degrees" is underscored by the poised, intelligent dancers interviewed. Decadence and Siobhan explain that though dancing pays well, they are denied sick days, are scheduled based on race and breast size, and are sometimes secretly videotaped by customers. To remedy such abusive working conditions, Query and her coworkers form the Exotic Dancers Union, but the process is a lengthy, stressful one. Query also has the challenge of "coming out" as an exotic dancer to her mother, Dr. Joyce Wallace, a physician renowned for her trailblazing work with prostitutes, when they are scheduled to speak at the same conference. Query's film is a political, informative, and personal inside look at the sex trade and the difficulties of unionization. [More]

Director: Julia Query, Vicky Funari

Director: Julia Query, Vicky Funari
Producer: Julia Query, John Montoya