Modern Whore is a hybrid documentary that reimagines popular depictions of sex work through the lived experiences of writer, performer, and sex worker, Andrea Werhun. Based on the subject’s 2018 memoir and an expansion of the director’s 2020 short film, both of the same name, Modern Whore follows Andrea as she grapples with social stigma and reclaims her narrative in a series of funny, heartbreaking, and surprising stories.

Join director Nicole Bazuin, producer/subject Andrea Werhun, and producer Lauren Grant for a special post-screening discussion on Friday, May 22.

Nicole Bazuin is an award-winning Toronto filmmaker and artist. She directed the short films Thriving: A Dissociated Reverie, which premiered at Sundance and was named to TIFF’s Canada’s Top Ten list for 2023, Modern Whore, which premiered at SXSW, and the CBC short doc Last Night at the Strip Club. She co-created and directed the series This Art Works! for CBC Arts and Climate Talks With Kids for The Image Centre. Nicole co-created and photographed the book Modern Whore: A Memoir (Penguin Random House Canada) with writer Andrea Werhun. Exhibitions include: Art Gallery of Ontario, Luminato, and Nuit Blanche. Modern Whore is her first feature film.

Andrea Werhun is a writer, performer, and producer based in Toronto. She is the author and co-creator of Modern Whore: A Memoir (Strange Light/Penguin Random House Canada) with filmmaker Nicole Bazuin. In 2024, Andrea consulted on Sean Baker’s acclaimed film Anora and Sook-Yin Lee’s Paying for It, in which she also played a lead role. Andrea cowrote, produced, and performed in Thriving: A Dissociated Reverie, which enjoyed its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and was named to TIFF Canada’s Top Ten 2023. Andrea is a regular contributor to The Globe & Mail and CBC Radio, and wrote a feature memoir essay for the June 2025 issue of Toronto Life.

Lauren Grant is an award-winning producer, and the owner of Clique Pictures, a production company that focuses on working with female creative talent in front and behind the camera. She produced the feature films Sugar Daddy, The Retreat, Riot Girls, Wet Bum, Picture Day, and the documentaries Wilfred Buck and Metamorphosis. Lauren executive produced The Sticky for Amazon. She won a Canadian Screen Award for the short documentary Take a Walk on the Wildside and a Genie award for Savage. The Hollywood Reporter named Lauren one of 15 Talents to Watch, and she is an alumna of ACE Producers, Rotterdam Lab, Berlinale Talent Campus, and TIFF Studio.