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Paying For It film image; two people lying in bed next to each other

Paying For It

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Sook-Yin Lee adapts a graphic novel by her ex-boyfriend, Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown, about the end of their relationship and Brown’s subsequent decision to start paying for sex. Dan Beirne (The Twentieth Century) plays Brown, and he’s joined by a cast that includes Emily Lê as Lee stand-in Sonny and Andrea Werhun as Yulissa, the sex worker who forms a long-term bond with Brown.

Paying For It is admirably frank, and Lee is unafraid to venture into uncomfortable areas. The film is set in the 90s and aughts, and the progressive-minded curiosity of Brown, Yulissa, and Sonny casts them as well ahead of their time: their questioning of sexual conventions is daring even for 2024. Beirne plays Brown as a calm, curious adventurer who is unwilling to be held back by taboos, and Werhun shines as the ingratiating prostitute who matches his needs, both sexual and social. Lê’s Sonny is likewise a charming character, lovable for her honesty as she navigates the uncertain territory of sex in the contemporary world.

 

Sept 30: Q&A with director Sook-Yin Lee; actor Emily Lê; author Chester Brown; and editor Anna Catley

Oct 1: Q&A with director Sook-Yin Lee; actor Emily Lê; and author Chester Brown

 

Community Partner

Director
Cast

Daniel Beirne, Emily Lê, Andrea Werhun, Noah Lamanna

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2024

Language

English

Film Contact
Links
19+
85 min
Comedy Drama Q&As at VIFF Romance Women Directors
Wilding Pictures, Hawkeye Pictures

Book Tickets

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Credits & Director

Executive Producer

Dan Beirne, John Cameron Mitchell

Producer

Matt Code, Sonya Di Rienzo, Aeschylus Poulos

Screenwriter

Sook-Yin Lee, Joanne Sarazen

Cinematography

Gayle Ye

Editor

Anna Catley

Production Design

Olivia D’Oliveira

Original Music

Dylan Gamble, Sook-Yin Lee

Sook-Yin Lee headshot; Paying For It director

Sook-Yin Lee

Sook-Yin Lee is a Toronto-based filmmaker, musician, actor, and broadcaster. She starred in Shortbus (2006), the ground-breaking 2SLGBTQ movie that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Her feature film writer and directorial debut, Year of the Carnivore (2009), premiered at TIFF. Lee won the 2014 Canadian Screen Award for Best Performance by a Lead Dramatic Actress in Jack. In 2019, she wrote and performed Unsafe for Canadian Stage, which examined questions of censorship and artistic freedom. She won Best Director and Best Picture at the 2018 Downtown Los Angeles Film Festival for Octavio is Dead! Lee co-created the experimental comedies Rest and Relax (2024) and Death and Sickness (2020, CBC Gem), as well as contributing songs to Infinity Pool (2023) and Antiviral (2012).

Filmography: Year of the Carnivore (2009); Octavio is Dead! (2018); Death and Sickness (2020); Rest and Relax (2024)

Photo by Dylan Gamble

 

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