Michael Glawogger Quotes

#1. Whenever a man enters the realm of prostitutes he's always regarded as a possible customer. If you enter as a woman, you're regarded as somebody who could be in the same place. Being a man brings the perspective of flirtation.

Michael Glawogger

#2. In the Bengali language, there's not a real word for blow job. They call it "doing the ice cream."

Michael Glawogger

#3. I don't aestheticize anything. I don't even use lights. The working girls do one thing all day: They make themselves pretty. That's their job and their money. In a way, I had the best makeup artists, hairdressers, and art designers in the world.

Michael Glawogger

#4. A young man in Bangladesh can't even hold hands with a young woman. Without marriage there is no kissing, no holding hands, no going anywhere. So young boys can only go to the brothels for sex before marriage.

Michael Glawogger

#5. You can become an alcoholic working in an office in Los Angeles. It's very easy to say because I do this shameful job I take drugs or drink, but the real reason prostitutes take drugs and drink is because prostitution is a party area. It's not about desperation, it's the surroundings.

Michael Glawogger

#6. I've made many documentaries, but prostitution was the hardest in terms of gaining the trust of the people being filmed.

Michael Glawogger

#7. As a filmmaker I cannot make anything beautiful. I'm Platonic in that sense.

Michael Glawogger

#8. Mostly I take photographs in times of research. Whores' Glory was shot in 30 days, 10 days for each segment, but the research for each part lasted a couple of months.

Michael Glawogger

#9. The most important thing is to find people that you enjoy - friends that you enjoy playing music with.

Michael Glawogger

#10. I think beauty is the splendor of truth, so if the people I portray think they're beautiful, they're beautiful. I don't make them that way.

Michael Glawogger

#11. On one hand, they [prostitutes] don't struggle because it's simply their life. In Mexico and elsewhere, once they get out of these places [brothels] they have a pretty square life.

Michael Glawogger

#12. Sometimes the presence of a camera is like opening a door.

Michael Glawogger

#13. Prostitution will always exist in every society, so I believe in a fair trade. Open the doors for women to earn their money without having pimps. The worst thing is to criminalize it, because then you open the doors for pimps, criminals, and trading.

Michael Glawogger

#14. It's interesting because the Thai king says there's no prostitution in Thailand, it doesn't exist, so the prostitutes don't pay taxes. They can work other jobs if they want and put away money, maybe leave when they're 40.

Michael Glawogger

#15. In Bangladesh a prostitute normally wouldn't even undress for a man. He pays, she pulls up her sari, and he's done in 20 seconds.

Michael Glawogger