Hommes a Louer, exploring male prostitution in Montreal, is one of the few documentaries that allows audiences to think for themselves.
The line between what cinema is and what it ought to be is one that is being crossed increasingly rarely, according to film historian and critic André Habib.
Last Friday’s Mary Ann Beckett-Baxter Memorial Lecture held at Concordia University was called “Can we still think with images?” and headed by Habib and filmmaker Rodrigue Jean. The talk was preceded by a screening of Jean’s critically acclaimed documentary Hommes à Louer. The Jutra-nominated film is a series of interviews with 11 male prostitutes from across Montreal over the course of a year. It’s a harrowing and disturbing account of a dark pocket of society where prejudices abound. There’s no sugar-coating the facts in Hommes à Louer; it isn’t a Michael Moore-type documentary with a ton of voice-over and crazy graphs and music – there are none. The audience is left t …

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REPUBLISH | EMAIL | PRINT | Text Size: S M L XL | REPORT TYPO | SEND YOUR FEEDBACK | Police seek victims of juvenile prostitution ring Last Updated: Monday, March 1, 2010 | 4:21 PM ET CBC News Police say the ring recruited victims while they were waiting for the bus. (CBC) Longueuil police are urging any other potential victims of an alleged juvenile prostitution ring to come forward. Eight people were arrested last week following an investigation launched in 2008 after a sexual assault complaint was filed by an underage girl. Since then, two more young women have come forward with similar complaints, police said Monday. None of the eight was present during a brief court hearing Monday morning at the Longueuil courthouse. The accused face a total of 47 charges in connection with assaults against the three alleged victims, said Crown prosecutors. The girls, aged between 14 and 15, were allegedly recruited by the ring while waiting for the bus, s …

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Five men from the Montreal suburb of Longueuil have been charged with a series of brutal sexual assaults during the past two years.
Longueuil police Const. Mark David said three girls, aged between 14 and 15, were abducted from bus shelters and taken to private homes or Montreal hotels.
“There would be one or more individuals there, and (the victims) would be forced to have sex with one or more of them,” David said.
Last week, police arrested Kwesi (Crispy) Renner, 28; Joseph Samuel Ogaus, 19; Shawn Faubert, 21; Jason Joseph Bailey, 21; and Bakari Blades, 27. The men face a total of 47 charges, including sexual assault, having sexual contact with a minor, forcing a person into prostitution, possessing child pornography, human trafficking and drug trafficking.
Three others are expected to face charges in the attacks, police said.

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MONTREAL â Five men from the Montreal suburb of Longueuil have been charged with a series of brutal sexual assaults over the past two years.
Longueuil police Const. Mark David said three girls, aged between 14 and 15, were abducted from bus shelters and taken to private homes or Montreal hotels.
“There would be one or more individuals there, and (the victims) would be forced to have sex with one or more of them,” David said.
Last week, police arrested Kwesi (Crispy) Renner, 28; Joseph Samuel Ogaus, 19; Shawn Faubert, 21; Jason Joseph Bailey, 21; and Bakari Blades, 27. The men face a total of 47 charges, including sexual assault, having sexual contact with a minor, forcing a person into prostitution, possessing child pornography, human trafficking and drug trafficking.
Three others are expected to face charges in the attacks, police said.

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… From what I understand, there would be one or more individuals there, and (the victims) would be forced to have sex with one or more of them,” David said.
Police are not saying how long the girls were held or whether they were drugged before or during the attacks.
The first of the women came forward in 2008, said David, igniting a two-year investigation dubbed Operation Saltimbanque.
“We have a unit devoted to sexual crimes of this type,” he said. “We kept an ongoing file, and two more victims showed up to write depositions.”
On Wednesday, police arrested Kwesi (Crispy) Renner, 28; Joseph Samuel Ogaus, 19; Shawn Faubert, 21; Jason Joseph Bailey, 21; and Bakari Blades, 27, in connection with the attacks. They face a total of 47 charges, including sexual assault, having sexual contact with a minor, forcing a person into prostitution, possessing child pornography, human trafficking and drug trafficking.

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… More Images »  The Shaughnessy Village in Montrealhas one of the largest concentrations of historic homes in Montreal, but it’s a dump and it’s getting worse. Sammy Forcillo, the councillor for the area, pauses at the abandoned Seville Theatre on Feb. 17, 2010.Photograph by: Dave Sidaway, Montreal Gazette
MONTREAL – A derelict stretch of Ste. Catherine St. W. that includes the remnants of the Seville Theatre should be razed by its owner and turned into a green space until the company is ready to build on the site, the city councillor for the area says.
The carcass of the old theatre and the rest of the boarded-up block between Chomedey and Lambert Closse Sts. is like a magnet for drug-dealing, prostitution and graffiti, Sammy Forcillo, who was elected in November as councillor in the Peter-McGill district that covers western downtown, said this week while on a tour of the neighbourhood with The Gazette.

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… More Images »  The Shaughnessy Village in Montrealhas one of the largest concentrations of historic homes in Montreal, but it’s a dump and it’s getting worse. Sammy Forcillo, the councillor for the area, pauses at the abandoned Seville Theatre on Feb. 17, 2010.Photograph by: Dave Sidaway, Montreal Gazette
MONTREAL – A derelict stretch of Ste. Catherine St. W. that includes the remnants of the Seville Theatre should be razed by its owner and turned into a green space until the company is ready to build on the site, the city councillor for the area says.
The carcass of the old theatre and the rest of the boarded-up block between Chomedey and Lambert Closse Sts. is like a magnet for drug-dealing, prostitution and graffiti, Sammy Forcillo, who was elected in November as councillor in the Peter-McGill district that covers western downtown, said this week while on a tour of the neighbourhood with The Gazette.

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Nine people face charges over a series of violent crimes committed in the West Island last summer as two rival street gangs clashed over drug trafficking turf.
Three of the nine were already behind bars yesterday as Montreal police conducted the second phase of Project Ondée, focusing on last year’s violence in the West Island.
Among those in custody is Jonathan Klor, 22, of Pierrefonds, who faces three counts of attempted murder, and charges of conspiracy to commit murder and living off the avails of prostitution. This is in addition to weapons offences with which he was charged in August.
Five other men were arrested yesterday. Another was still being sought late in the day.
Klor already has a criminal record that includes a conviction for a kidnapping in the West Island in 2007. According to a recent parole decision, Klor was identified as a member of a Montreal street gang referred to as the Dipset.

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n a city not short of film festivals, Cinema du Parc has concocted the Montreal International Romantic Film Festival, which runs from February 12th to 18th. Capitalizing on the craze for chocolate hearts and roses that are bound to sell by the ton this weekend, the films range from American classic Casablanca to contemporary New York, I Love You, to the online indie hit Sita Sings the Blues, among others. Personally, my pick for Valentine’s weekend would be Cinema du Parc’s preview screenings of Götz Spielmann’s Revanche (pictured above) – an admittedly seedier choice for Valentine’s Day. This story about a con-man dating a prostitute has been getting very positive buzz since its Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film last year. The above choices are sure to impress your date or significant other more than going to the obviously vaccuous Valentine’s Day film, also opening this week.

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MONTREAL â Three men have been charged with luring two 17-year-old girls from New Brunswick into prostitution.
The case was initiated after one of the girls contacted her family, and the family issued a complaint to the RCMP in Moncton. The operation was running out of an apartment in Lachine.
Police found the girls and sent them back to their families in New Brunswick. They arrested Austin Wilson, 23, on Jan. 18, and issued a warrant for the arrest of two other men. Miles Tynes, 36, turned himself in on Jan. 25. Philip Lafferty, 49, turned himself in on Thursday night. The three face charges of prostitution, luring and human trafficking.
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