Four women encounter friendship and betrayal while working the streets in Sweetheart Deal, a new feature documentary about life and death on Seattle’s infamous Aurora Avenue. When street life and violent customers take a toll on a close-knit group of sex workers battling opiate addiction, they seek comfort and safety in the roadside motorhome of a self-styled savior with a mysterious past.
But as the women struggle desperately to rebuild their former lives, a shocking revelation threatens all the progress they’ve made. Rather than fall victim to another cruel injustice, they discover the strength to stand up for themselves and for each other.
Shot in unflinching verité-style over several years, Sweetheart Deal offers an astonishingly intimate portrait of hope, heartbreak and resilience on the fringes of modern America.
Directors' Bio:
Elisa Levine is a Seattle filmmaker making her directing debut, the culmination of a longtime desire to use verite filmmaking to illuminate subcultures hidden in plain sight. Elisa is a Film Independent, Garrett Scott and Sundance Documentary Film Program Fellow. Gabriel Miller (1972 - 2019) was an award-winning cinematographer whose credits include the Oscar-nominated King’s Point and HBO’s A Dangerous Son. Productions he worked on have been broadcast on the BBC, Sundance Channel and PBS.