Buy Bye Beauty
Encyclopedia
Buy Bye Beauty is a 2001
documentary film
by Swedish
director
and performance art
ist Pål Hollender
. The film is about the way Latvia
n sex industry
and its being fueled by businessmen and sex tourists
from Sweden visiting Riga
. The film was shot in Riga in July 2000. The narration of the film is in English
, with interviews conducted in Russian
and Latvian
.
Although the director firmly asserts that "The film was meant for Swedes
and was about Swedes", it caused controversy in Latvia, particularly for its assertion that the actual number of women engaged in the sex industry is substantially higher than the figures given by Latvian authorities. The film was also controversial because of scenes which involved Hollender having sex with Latvian prostitutes.
In Latvia, soon after its first screening at the Gothenburg Film Festival
in February 2001, the film was seen as a purposeful attempt to distort the country's image given that it was supported by the Swedish Film Institute
. Latvian President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga
called the film "political propaganda", Prime Minister Andris Bērziņš suggested that the country could file an international criminal case against the film's authors, and the Prosecutor-General's Office advised the Interior Ministry to ban Hollender from entering the country. TV3 Sweden
, which aired the documentary twice, apologised to Latvians for its negative content. Hollender said in 2006 that despite having received two invitations, he has avoided visiting Latvia since the controversy.
In late 2010 Hollender in an interview to Latvian newspaper Diena
revealed that he has lied in the film. He confessed that, despite claiming that women he had sex with were randomly met in the streets of Riga
, in fact those were professional prostitutes that had signed contract with Hollender. Also, considering accusations that 40% of women in Riga are prostitutes, Hollender defended himself by stating that he used "Latvian sources".
2001 in film
The year 2001 in film involved some significant events, including the first of the Harry Potter series and also the first of The Lord of the Rings trilogy...
documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
by Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and performance art
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
ist Pål Hollender
Pål Hollender
Pål Anders Jörgen Hollender is a Swedish film director and performance artist.Hollender is known foremost for his controversial documentaries. Pelle polis that dealt with issues of power and pederasty was denied airing on TVs...
. The film is about the way Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
n sex industry
Sex industry
The sex industry consists of businesses which either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment...
and its being fueled by businessmen and sex tourists
Sex tourism
Sex tourism is travel to engage in sexual activity with prostitutes.The World Tourism Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations, defines sex tourism as "trips organized from within the tourism sector, or from outside this sector but using its structures and networks, with the primary...
from Sweden visiting Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
. The film was shot in Riga in July 2000. The narration of the film is in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, with interviews conducted in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
and Latvian
Latvian language
Latvian is the official state language of Latvia. It is also sometimes referred to as Lettish. There are about 1.4 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad. The Latvian language has a relatively large number of non-native speakers, atypical for a small language...
.
Although the director firmly asserts that "The film was meant for Swedes
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and was about Swedes", it caused controversy in Latvia, particularly for its assertion that the actual number of women engaged in the sex industry is substantially higher than the figures given by Latvian authorities. The film was also controversial because of scenes which involved Hollender having sex with Latvian prostitutes.
In Latvia, soon after its first screening at the Gothenburg Film Festival
Gothenburg Film Festival
Göteborg International Film Festival is an annual film festival in Gothenburg, Sweden, launched in 1979. The first year the festival showed 17 films on 3 screens, and had 3 000 visitors. Today, the film festival is the biggest in Scandinavia and takes place 10 days every year between January and...
in February 2001, the film was seen as a purposeful attempt to distort the country's image given that it was supported by the Swedish Film Institute
Swedish Film Institute
The Swedish Film Institute was founded in 1963 to support and develop the Swedish film industry. The institute is housed in the Filmhuset building located in Gärdet, Östermalm in Stockholm...
. Latvian President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga
Vaira Vike-Freiberga
Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga was the sixth President of Latvia, the first female President of Latvia and the first female leader in eastern Europe. She was elected President of Latvia in 1999 and re-elected in 2003.Dr...
called the film "political propaganda", Prime Minister Andris Bērziņš suggested that the country could file an international criminal case against the film's authors, and the Prosecutor-General's Office advised the Interior Ministry to ban Hollender from entering the country. TV3 Sweden
TV3 (Sweden)
TV3 is a television channel targeted at a Swedish language audience owned by Viasat . It was founded on 31 December 1987 by entrepreneur Jan Stenbeck as joint Scandinavian channel, but Denmark and Norway soon got their own versions of TV3...
, which aired the documentary twice, apologised to Latvians for its negative content. Hollender said in 2006 that despite having received two invitations, he has avoided visiting Latvia since the controversy.
In late 2010 Hollender in an interview to Latvian newspaper Diena
Diena
Diena is a Latvian language national daily newspaper in Latvia, published since 23 November 1990. Since privatisation in 1993, Diena was owned by Swedish media group Bonnier, 2009 AS Diena together with its sister business daily Dienas Bizness was sold to investor group owned by Jonathan and David...
revealed that he has lied in the film. He confessed that, despite claiming that women he had sex with were randomly met in the streets of Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
, in fact those were professional prostitutes that had signed contract with Hollender. Also, considering accusations that 40% of women in Riga are prostitutes, Hollender defended himself by stating that he used "Latvian sources".