FLY IN POWER
the story
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 honor 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.
meet the makers
Yin Q
Co-Director, Executive Producer
Yin Q is a Queer, Chinese American parent, writer, and sex worker rights advocate. They are a core organizer of Red Canary Song and Founding Director of Kink Out. Their work can be seen in We Too (pub Feminist Press), Mercy Mistress (pilot), and the Fly In Power short.
Yoon Grace Ra
Co-Director, Cinematographer, Editor
Yoon Grace Ra is a cultural organizer working with audio/visual media. Their filmmaking practice is formed in relationship with movement communities, soil + decomposition studies, and Korean shamanic folk music.
Xen Nhà
Producer
Xen Nhà is a documentary maker, artist and writer 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. They are interested in language making and its relationship with the body and lineages.
Kai Yang
Production Assistant
Kai Yang is a senior at NYU studying Asian/Pacific/American studies and Psychology. She is currently writing her thesis on Asia-futurism through media, dress, and the post-human as a form of diasporic identity. She is also an intern at Red Canary Song.
“I’ve been intentionally watching Western media portrayals of the stories of Asian/migrant sex workers since I was 15. It’s taken 15 years since to grow with the community and consciousness to provide this response of a film. May the personal experiences and political education in the film give guiding clarity, just as the process of making it, has given me.”
Core Production Team
Co-Director and Executive Producer: Yin Q
Co-Director, Cinematographer and Editor: Yoon Grace Ra
Producer: Xen Nhà
Production Assistant: Kai Yang
Original Score Music Composer: Melanie Hsu
Sound Engineer: Jared Paul
“We started filming the work of Red Canary Song at the one year anniversary vigil for Yang Song, a migrant massage worker who fell from a window during a police raid. This film goes beyond documentary, this film is an ethnographic quilt of the lives, struggles, and care of a community that is otherwise invisibilized by strategic racist and misogynistic policies. The anti-trafficking Moral Right movement would have you believe that these women need to be rescued through handcuffs. Our aim is to give voice to Asian migrant women, so that she may tell her story with truth and dignity.”
Key Presenters
Charlotte
KhoKhoi
Prof. Elena Shih
Yeonhoo Cho
Lisa
Esther K
upcoming
We have a range of screenings lined up in 2024. Please check back here later for further details.
Past
screenings
Tuscon Sex Worker Arts Festival, Tuscon AZ, 3 Mar 2024
Respect QLD, Brisbane Premiere, QLD Australia, 3 Mar 2024
Winter Film Awards International Festival, NYC, 24 Feb 2024
NE Spicy Coffee Collective, UK Premiere, 21 Feb 2024
Flower Spa: Solidarity Outside In Exhibition, Storefront News Gallery, NYC, 20 Jan - 17 Feb 2024
Scarlet Cha Cha, South Korea Premiere, 17 Dec 2023
Vixen, Melbourne Premiere, Australia, 24 and 30 Nov 2023
Scarlet Alliance Sex Worker National Forum, Australian Premiere, 8 Nov 2023
Our Inner Quarters exhibition, co-presented with A/P/A Institute at NYU, Center for the Study of Gender & Sexuality, and Intersectional Feminist/Queer Studies Collective, Oct 31 - Dec 8 2023
UCLA Transnational Gender and Labor Working Group, 20 Oct 2023
Red Umbrella Film Festival, Dublin Ireland, 19 – 22 Oct 2023
National Women’s Studies Association Conference, Baltimore Maryland, 26 Oct 2023
SWOP Hawaiʻi Oʻahu, Honolulu, 30 Aug 2023
Asian American International Film Festival 46th Edition (AAIFF46), 29 Jul 2023.
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (private virtual), 27 Jun 2023
San Francisco Bay Area Sex Worker Arts and Film Festival, SF, 27 May 2023
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Islander Film Festival (LAAPFF23), LA, 7 May 2023, Winner of Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary
Tisch School of the Arts NYU, NYC, 28 Apr 2023
University of Massachusetts, MA, 27 Apr 2023
NYU, NYC, 26 Apr 2023
New School, NYC 19 Apr 2023
Brown University, RI, 15 Mar 2023
World Premiere, Flushing Town Hall, Flushing NYC, 9 Mar 2023
screening and press inquiries
We welcome enquiries to screen Fly in Power. Note that our film is available with English captions and Korean subtitles. We are currently working on creating Mandarin, Vietnamese and Thai subtitles for our film. If you’d like to support our film please donate to our GoFundMe.
For screening and press inquiries please contact us via press.redcanarysong@gmail.com.
Press Coverage
Migrant Massage Workers Make Their Own Narrative
Asian Cinevision | Demi Guo | July 2023
“Fly in Power” gives voice to Asian Migrant Massage Workers
Asian American Arts Alliance | Kathy Ou | July 2023
Documentary ‘Fly in Power’ highlights the work of Red Canary Song
Forbes | Joan MacDonald | July 2023
39th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Islander Film Festival Announces Award Winners
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival News | May 2023
FILM STILLS
