SXSW and the "Madam"

"I heard there were three generations of women working in the same house and that family element really fascinated me," said "The Canal Street Madam" director Cameron Yates following the premiere of his doc at the SXSW Film Festival Monday. "After I met Jeanette, I knew I had a film." "Madam" follows the fascinating story of infamous (or as she likes to say, "famous") New Orleans prostitute Jeanette Maier whose brothel was busted in an FBI sting in 2001. Yates' verite style film combines serious commentary on media, politics and morality with humor that gripped the overflow audience at SXSW for its early evening debut. Maier herself is an intoxicating character, who uses her mix of Southern charm, a filthy mouth and confident charisma to advocate for the rights of sex workers at events depicted in the film and again at the SXSW Q&A. "The lawmakers are the lawbreakers," she said to cheers. "What two or more consensual adults do in the privacy of their home is no business of the government."