After the second screening, imbd's Arno Kazarian stayed and chatted for a little bit.
He said that when covering Sundance, they pick one Slamdance film each year to review. This year it was Graphic Sexual Horror.
Thanks a lot!
"I walked up the long, sloping hill of Park City's Main Street to Slamdance's HQ, where the limits-pushing documentary Graphic Sexual Horror screened.
GSH offers more than a glimpse into Insex.com, the now-defunct "violent porn" website created of a man who only goes by Brent or his screename pd. Original footage and interviews with Brent/pd, former Insex employees (including models and production staff), as well as a metal worker known as KGB result in much more than a BDSM primer, for GSH delves into the individual personalities, how they relate to what I would call the Insex groupthink, and how sexual desires entwined with the ability to make thousands of dollars from either a photo shot or a live feed, the former being an endurance test (for models and audiences alike) in which a woman such as Lorelei Lee (who was in attendance and was also one of the subjects of an excellent recent short, Tale of Two Bondage Models, with former Insex model Princess Donna) could make $1,000 per hour -- with bonuses -- provided Insex members were blown away by her myriad abilities to receive pain.
Directed by former Insex producer Anna Lorentzon and writer Barbara Bell, their respect for Brent/pd and the Insex models is obvious, though they refuse to tell their audiences what to think (a rule every good documentary follows, right?). I think GSH could be tightened up toward its conclusion, because the fact that Insex was forced to cease operation through use of the Patriot Act gets a bit muddled. But their grandest achievement is the creation of a work that is impossible to dismiss or forget. GSH exists to rattle the repressed thoughts that rest deep within most of us.
The impression I was left with (thus far): Among other things, Brent is a short filmmaker and performance artist who is as relevant as someone such as Ron Athey at his most notorious. He's also an Internet maverick, since Insex began in 1997 as essentially one of the first online fourms for BDSM enthusiasts. Does it bother me when he refers to his former models as "girls"? Did I want to close by eyes during both the water immersion scene? The answer to both is yes, but that is my limitation, and it needs to be reconciled with the fact that Insex was always a safe, sane, and consensual enterprise between willing adults.
Yes, this is a tough work to watch, but it is more compelling and rewarding than any other documentary I have seen in years. I stand by the notion that film festivals -- especially Slamdance and Sundance -- should constantly challenge their own programming ideas, as well as the boundaries of their audiences. Graphic Sexual Horror is hard to top in this respect.
Personally, I had a hangover. The Chateneaunf du Pape was the cap on several drinks with Absolut at the Queer Lounge. But Anna and I had an interview with Park City TV at 7:30. Our wake up call was a half hour late, so we rushed to get to the interview as Atom packed to catch a flight back to New York. Our interview can be viewed here:
Click on January 21 and scroll down to 7 AM – Mountain Morning Show. We are at minute 33:46.
Everyone there was interested in the film (even though they weren’t able to run our trailer. . .oops, not ready for prime time). And both Anna and I are rather horrified by how we look on camera. Which is perhaps why we both prefer to be on the opposite side of the lens.
We came back to the hotel at 8:30 and went back to sleep. This was our first real day off. I worked out and went swimming while Anna went into town and watched some films at Slamdance. Later, I bussed in and talked with a couple of the Slamdance staff about the offer we received the day before. This is what is so fantastic about the Slamdance festival. It’s so much more than just having a place to screen a film. It’s about meeting other filmmakers and learning from one another. It’s about informative panels with companies that are working with all of the new digital formats, giving out information that is impossible to find elsewhere. And it’s about networking with staff and more experienced filmmakers about industry contacts, lawyers, and distributors. It’s a wonderful support system. This really is a great festival with a great staff. Artists of all kinds need a Slamdance to help them learn the ropes.
We started the day with all of us answering e-mails – Atom working press possibilities and updating our schedule, me working on the blog, and Anna doing some guerrilla marketing. For the first time since we arrived on Friday, we turned on the TV (muted) to watch the coverage of the inauguration.
At 9:40 we ran out to catch the shuttle, arriving at Sundance headquarters just before 10:30 for a roundtable with funders and broadcasters of feature-length documentaries. Instead, every television screen in the building was turned to the inauguration as Barack Obama spoke to our nation for the first time as president. Applause, shouts of “amen,” and cheering broke out from time to time. For me, I was quite moved by his words. I teared up. Many of us have waited a very long time for a leader like Barack Obama to move us away from the greed and aggression that has informed our culture and driven our politics for decades. It was a great moment. Yet at the same time, as he called the nation to include people of all religions, even those who are not religious, and as he named all the different colors of people, calling on us to break down the boundaries, there was one glaring omission. He did not speak to the prejudice and discrimination against those of us with different sexuality. From the anti-gay campaign of Anita Bryant and the Southern Baptist Church through the harrowing years of the AIDs epidemic that gutted the gay community, to the devastating passage of Prop 8 in California, gays, lesbians, and others have been used as scapegoats in the most horrifying manner in the name of religion and conservative politics. I heard nothing in his speech that included me. Sure, I’m white. I have no religious affiliation. But I am still vulnerable to the whims and fears of people that do not recognize me as a full human being. The majority should never be able to vote on a law that would remove the rights of any minority. It is antithetical to the intent of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
So as the national anthem began, for the first time in my life, I did not stand up. When I am given the same rights as my fellow citizens, then I will stand.
Day 6 – Getting on with the work
OKAY! So I got that out of my system. The round table began late at Sundance, since everyone watched the inauguration. So from 11:30 to 12:45, Atom, Anna, and I split up and moved from table to table to listen to representatives from many funding agencies and broadcasters, and also to pitch our documentary to them. I spoke with POV (the PBS show) and was able to give a screening copy to both TV2 Denmark and HBO. The response was all very positive. Afterward, we were very jazzed, and at the same time drained. It’s hard to have the ON switch flipped day after day. After a lunch that took 2 hours (very slow service), we hit the Queer Lounge for our meeting with a representative from a very good company that has shown quite a lot of interest in our film. They act as a middleman between filmmakers and all the distribution platforms, somewhat like an agent. It was a heady meeting, incredibly positive. Anna and I have been discussing the distribution strategy we think would work best for Graphic Sexual Horror. And the proposed distribution deal was almost identical. So we celebrated by purchasing a vintage bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape and spending another late evening in the hot tub, not sure if we should hold our breath or breathe a sigh of relief. And Atom missed her flight home. Karaoke on the way home in the Music TaxiHot tub outside at night: Barb, Anna and Atom, our lovely friend-for-hire
Poor Atom and Princess Donna had to make an early morning dash to the airport to send Donna back to San Francisco. By the time I returned to the hotel room, Atom and Anna were checking out our video interviews from the day before.
Even though we were all exhausted, the great energy from our screening lingered. I finally ate a decent breakfast and we all decided that we need to eat three regular meals a day and try to get more sleep or we may not make it to our second screening.
At Slamdance headquarters we got a lot of great feedback about our movie. We hit happy hour and then watched The Road to Fallujah – a documentary by Mark Manning, the only un-embedded westerner to live in Fallujah after it was practically leveled by US and Iraqi forces. Afterwards, we went back to the room and fell asleep.
The 18th was D-day for us - our world premier. It started at 8:30 in the morning with an APTV interview with Mike Cidoni, coordinated by Fifteen Minutes (a media and public relations company) to promote LGBT directors and films at Sun/Slamdance. I was one of a long line of LGBT directors, cast members, and producers that spent about 10 minutes with Mike, pitching our film and answering a few quick questions. Immediately afterward, Anna, Princess Donna and myself were ushered downstairs for a quick video interview that’s posted on the GLAAD blog at: http://glaadblog.org/2009/01/19/graphic-sexual-horror-at-queer-lounge/
Here's the video
From there we taxied to the Outfest Brunch, a huge gathering of LGBT filmmakers in town for Sun/Slamdance, with free food, drinks, and open bar. I learned from the bartender that they were mixing their drinks at the newly legalized 1.5 ounces of alcohol per mixed drink, rather than the prior 1.0 ounce legal maximum. They have special measure and pour containers for accuracy.
Park City frothed with tourists, film buffs, celebrity appearances on Main Street – a party atmosphere punctuated with prowling police in SUV’s and on foot. By 1 PM, my partner texted from the Salt Lake City airport. She was driving toward Park City. Also Toban, one of the ex-members of the Insex website with whom we’d been in contact, arrived in town to view the screening. As I texted back and forth while sitting in the back of a panel on digital marketing, the pace I’d been keeping up for the past weeks hit me and I could feel myself starting to crash. Princess Donna and Atom had barely slept the night before and we had a big night ahead. I picked up the car from our primo parking space, gathered Anna, Atom, and Donna, and we drove back to the hotel for hot tub and sleep.
By 5 PM we’d all showered, dressed, and primped. We ate an early dinner. Toban graciously offered to drive us into the boil of film activity called Park City. As our screening time neared, our World Premier sold out. Anna and I entered the screening room and worked with the projectionist to make a few small adjustments to the sound.
After that, it all happened quickly. The room filled. Some sat on the floor. Anna and I took seats along the back wall after our introduction. The room went black and there it was, Graphic Sexual Horror on a large screen. It went much better than I had guessed. We only had a net loss of about three or four people who left in the middle. But the attentive crowd sat and watched, obviously affected by our film, the result of more than two years of work. The questions during the Q & A were insightful. The people attending had obviously understood the larger questions we sought to address in our film.
We had to cut the Q & A short in order to clear the room for the next screening. And as we filed out, Jonathon Hickman of e-Insiders pulled Anna and I and Princess Donna aside for our third interview of the day. By that time, Anna had to take over. I felt I had started to babble. Afterward, we talked with interested people who still milled around in the Slamdance lobby. Anna left to watch Mum & Dad by Steven Sheil. The rest of us went for wine and pizza. I left with my partner for the night, and Atom pretended to be me and finagled the hotel staff to open the hot tub at 1 AM for Princess Donna and herself. A shower of stars filled the night sky of Utah.
The screening sold out, and even had people sitting in the aisle, up front, and standing in the back.
The audience was wonderful, only three walkouts, and they laughed in all the right places, something I haven't seen before when showing to non-BDSM friends. Ok, there are a couple of additional places where Barb and I always laugh hysterically, but those are probably only funny if you know the people or have worked at Insex, more tragic comedy.
At the Q&A we got further proof of just how good the audience was. Their questions showed perception and intelligence.
One thing some people had problems with before was that they didn't think that things were spelled out enough, but if anybody thought so last night, they were quiet about it, and their questions showed that they did pick up on pretty much everything. it was such a great experience premiering GSH here at Slamdance.
Thank you so much everybody!opening creditsQ&A opening credits
People at the screening said that they've seen our t-shirts "everywhere". Considering that we're only three people wearing them (and as of yesterday, the bartender), we must have done a good job of running around. Haven't seen the punk kids wearing them, andSlamdance bartender our posters never lasted more than 10 minute, it became the hot thing for the local teenagers.Anna, Princess Donna, Barb, poster before the screening
