''Buy Bye Beauty'' is a 2001 documentary film by Swedish director and performance artist

Pål Hollender Pål Anders Jörgen Hollender (born 20 July 1968 in Lidköping, Sweden) is a Swedish film director and performance artist. Hollender is known foremost for his controversial documentaries. '' Pelle polis'' (Pelle the Policeman) (1998) that dealt ...

. The film is about the

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

n sex industry and its being fueled by businessmen and

sex tourists Sex tourism refers to the practice of traveling to foreign countries, often on a different continent, with the intention of engaging in sexual activity or relationships in exchange for money or lifestyle support. This practice predominantly oper ...

from Sweden visiting

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

. The film was shot in Riga in July 2000. The narration of the film is in English, with interviews conducted in Russian and Latvian.

Controversy in Latvia

Although the director firmly asserts that "The film was meant for

Swedes Swedes ( sv, svenskar) are a North Germanic ethnic group native to the Nordic region, primarily their nation state of Sweden, who share a common ancestry, culture, history and language. They mostly inhabit Sweden and the other Nordic countr ...

and was about Swedes",Interview with Hollender
April 2006 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 The Swedish Film Institute ( sv, Svenska Filminstitutet) 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. The building, comp ...

. 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 TV3 (''TV tre'') is a Swedish pay television channel owned by Viaplay Group. It was launched on 31 December 1987 by businessman Jan Stenbeck. The channel was initially broadcast across all of Scandinavia. In 1990, separate Danish and Norwegian f ...

, 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'' (''The Day'') is a Latvian language national daily newspaper in Latvia, published since 23 November 1990. It is one of Latvia's largest daily periodicals and used to be considered as a paper of record. Following the change of ownersh ...

'' revealed that he has lied in the film. He confessed that, despite claiming that the women he had sex with were randomly encountered in the streets of

, they were in fact professional prostitutes but had signed contracts with Hollender beforehand. Also, regarding the assertion that 40% of women in Riga are prostitutes, Hollender defended himself by stating that he used "Latvian sources".Režisors Hollanders atzīst, ka melojis filmā par Latviju kā prostitūtu zemi
''NRA'', October 23, 2010

References

External links

* * 2001 films Swedish documentary films 2001 documentary films Documentary films about prostitution Sex industry in Latvia Latvia–Sweden relations Films shot in Latvia Prostitution in Latvia 2000s Swedish films Film controversies Controversies in Latvia {{2000s-Sweden-film-stub

Controversy in Latvia

See also

References

External links