On June 2nd 1975 hundreds of French sex workers occupied catholic churches right across France. They demanded the right to work free from police harassment and have jail sentences against them dropped.  The occupation is commemorated by sex workers as one of the key events that sparked the contemporary global sex workers rights movement but outside that community the occupations are unacknowledged and forgotten.

The Prostitutes’ Revolt is one of the three nominees for the In The Dark Audio Award. It won over the hearts of our judges, not only because of the importance of the story being told but also for the vibrant, playful and often intimate way in which it did it. Voices, music, memoirs, sound, humour and vivid and unusual present-day scenes helped to build a story from the past and bring it to life. While ultimately telling a “big story”, it achieved an intimacy with its subject that lifted it beyond simple historical reportage. It was a programme that didn’t tell you what to think, yet every step of the way the editorial voice was clear and strong.

Produced by Eurydice Aroney for Radio France Culture and Radio Belgium. The piece will be played with English Subtitles. 

WHEN: Sunday 7th June 2015, 14.00

WHERE: Site Gallery, 1 Brown Street, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S1 2BS

TICKETS: Sheffield Doc/Fest Ticket Holders Only