three years ago, an israeli film maker did a documentary on ladyboys from philipines that work in israel as old people's caretakers. in their spare days, many of them joined up to become a drag queen show that was very good, top quality. many of the permformers were cross dressers in their spare time, and some were transexuals or in progress for full sex changes... presented themselves as women even during working hours, and their employers were aware of their different sexual orientation.

a few days ago the film was presented for an award in the philipines; the film maker wanted as many of the performers as possible to be present for the award (those that have gone back to the philipines) ... one of the performers however had gone on to dubai to work to make money for the family as her mother's home was destroyed in teh tsunami... her (his) body was found in dubai... apparently after suffering humiliations for the twenty days since she had arrived in dubai (forced to dress as a man, cut her hair, the death supposedly sexually related (rape/murder.)...

the film was called 'paper dolls' and was about foreign workers (filipinos) in israel...

it just kills me to read something like this; and as the filmmaker put it: in dubai it was 'just another foreign labourer that died'...

i know, not thailand related, but just really bugged me...

too bad i had to check out the news this morning

bina

found a blurb:

BUBOT NIYAR Director:Tomer Heymann

Writer:Tomer Heymann

Release Date:26 October 2006 (Israel)

Genre:Documentary

Paper Dolls is a documentary film by award winning filmmaker Tomer Heymann about a group of transvestite Filipinos who emigrate to Israel to take care of elderly religious Jewish men. On their one day off per week, they perform as drag performers in a group called the Paper Dolls. On the political level, it explores the perils of global immigration. In this case, after the second Intifada, the Israeli government unofficially opened its doors to illegal workers to replace the Palestinians who were no longer allowed in the country. As tensions with the Palestinians eased, the government changed its policy and began to forcibly deport these foreign guest workers with dramatic consequences for our characters. On the human level, the film is about people who are rejected by their own families for being gay/transvestite and who emigrate and end up with jobs taking care of other people's parents who have been rejected by their own children because they are old, difficult, etc. They work grueling hours to send money back to the Philippines to support the families that have rejected them. As unbelievable as it may seem, these very different people (old religious Jews and transvestites from the Philippines) form very deep, quasi familial bonds.

for anyone interested in foreign labourers etc, its an interesting film in english tagalog and hebrew

... maybe i should do a film one day of all the thai workers i meet with here ....

Edited November 26, 200718 yr by bina

this sort of thing sickens me.

recently i, and another prominent member of thai visa, had the pleasure of meeting someone who had come to thailand for sexual reassignment surgery (male to female). when i met this person, lets call her 'S', it was pre-op. she had been taking hormones for a few years, and had been living as a woman for a few years also. i didnt have a second thought about this person in front of me being male. to me she was all woman.

S went in and has now been transformed into a gorgeous woman. after a three step operation performed over a week or so, S is now out there as the woman she always felt she should be.

along with S, i also met 'A" who had already gone through the whole surgical procedure and was in town to get a set of fantastic boobs. again, i never really thought of A being male (well, she is all woman now anyway) and i loved their company.

when will everyone realise that these people are human beings rather than objects to be ridiculed? i doubt that people are like this of their own choosing, or for the novelty of it.

the sooner we can let people be, the better this world will be.

Very sad story, and I am sorry to hear about it. However, some places are more riskier than others depending on the variables involved (as I have continually argued on this board), and UAE is not a region that would bode well for the combination of transvestite/transsexual and migrant worker.

Bina, so you were the other person who saw that movie? Sad to hear the bad news.

jing jing, not sure i understood??

actually the film was run on tv as a series first.... and i heard from a lot of people that it was very very good...

jing jing, not sure i understood??

actually the film was run on tv as a series first.... and i heard from a lot of people that it was very very good...

I saw the video anyway. It was marketed as a film. I doubt that it was seen much outside Israel. Kind of a small market festival movie subject matter. It was very well done, and sad to hear how guest workers are treated in Israel. Reminded me of the many Filipinos I have known in the US.

Edited November 27, 200718 yr by Jingthing

That is shocking! I have yet to watch the film. Really sad...

Here's the imdb link if you guys want to know more about it.