PROWL

An ordinary day in Romania. Under a highway exit close to Bucharest, Lidia and Denisa are changing their clothes; warm pullovers and sneakers are exchanged for tight tops and heels. The two are then waiting for clients, an icy wind gusting around their ears.

Alexandra Bălteanu’s first feature follows the lives of three Romanian sex workers with a frank naturalism that’s closer in spirit to a documentary. A feminist social drama about the everyday reality of sex work, Prowl casts a fresh eye on how stigma colors these women’s lives and their hopes.