Unrated: A Week of Sex in Cinema

In conjunction with the Los Angeles premiere of award-winning filmmaker Philippe Diaz’s NOW & LATER, we’ve organized a week of films and special guest appearances to help spark a conversation about sex - or the lack thereof - in cinema.

NOW & LATER
Directed by: Philippe Diaz | Introducing: Shari Solanis, James Wortham
Premiering in US theatres/ 2010/ Drama/ 99 min. /Rating: Unrated

Sex, politics and American culture are mixed into a combustible combination in Now & Later. Angela is an illegal Latina immigrant living in Los Angeles who takes in Bill, a disgraced banker on the run. Through passionate sex, soul-searching conversations ranging from politics to philosophy, and other worldly pleasures, Angela introduces Bill to another worldview. As their affair heats up, the course of Bill’s life begins to take an abrupt and unexpected turn. (Distributor: Cinema Libre Studio)

NOW & LATER’s premiere will be accompanied by seven notable films that explore the edgier side of relationships and sexuality in cinema. Designed to foster a broader dialogue with film-goers, the showcase allows Los Angeles audiences the chance to revisit these popular and controversial films that push buttons and boundaries for their frank and explicit portrayals of sex in cinema. Curated by Philippe Diaz and Cinema Libre Studio.

9 SONGS
Directed by: Michael Winterbottom |Starring: Kieran O’Brien and Margo Stilley
Released in US theatres/ 2004/ Drama/ 71 min. /Rating: Unrated

Winterbottom’s controversial film concerns Matt, a young glaciologist who soars across the vast, silent, icebound immensities of the South Pole as he recalls his love affair with Lisa. They meet at a mobbed rock concert in a vast music hall–London’s Brixton Academy. They are in bed at night’s end. Together, over a period of several months, they pursue a mutual sexual passion whose inevitable stages unfold in counterpoint to nine live-concert songs. Britain’s The Guardian, cited 9 SONGS as the most “sexually explicit film in the history of British Cinema” largely because it includes several scenes of real sex between the two lead actors. (Distributor: Palisades Tartan)

ANTICHRIST
Directed by: Lars von Trier
Starring: Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg
Released in US theatres/2009/ Drama/ 108 min./ Rating; Unrated

“The most shocking film in the history of the Cannes Film Festival”
– Anita Singh, The Sunday Telegraph.

A couple loses their young son when he falls out the window while they have sex in the other room. The mother’s grief consigns her to hospital, but her therapist husband brings her home intent on treating her depression himself. To help her confront her fears and repair their troubled marriage, they retreat to ‘Eden’, their remote cabin in the woods, where something untold happened the previous summer. Told in four chapters with a prologue and epilogue, the film details acts of lustful cruelty as the man and woman unfold the darker side of nature outside and within. (Distributor: IFC Films)

BETTY BLUE (37.2 le Matin)
Directed by: Jean-Jacques Beineix
Starring: Beatrice Dalle and Jean-Hughes Anglade
Released in US theatres 1982 / Drama / 116 min. / Rating: Unrated

Nominated for the Academy Award – Best Foreign film, Jean-Jacques Beineix’s passionate love story about obsessive and ill-fated lovers Zorg and Betty remains a classic. Zorg is a handyman who lives a quiet and peaceful life, working diligently and writing in his spare time until the beautiful and wild and unpredictable Betty walks into his life. After a dispute with Zorg’s boss they leave and Betty manages to get a job at a restaurant she persuades Zorg to try and get one of his books published but it is rejected which makes Betty fly into a rage. Suddenly Betty’s wild manners start to get out of control.


HUSTLER WHITE
Directed by: Rick Castro and Bruce La Bruce
Starring: Tony Ward, Bruce La Bruce, and Alex Austin
Released in US theatres 1996 / Drama / 79 min. / Rating: Unrated

Reminiscent of Sunset Boulevard, Hustler White transposes the action from the silver screen's old movie back lots to contemporary male prostitution and the porn industry. Said to be an homage to classic Hollywood cinema. (Distributor: Strand Releasing, ICA)

THE PRICE OF PLEASURE
Directed by: Chyng Sun and Miguel Picker
2010 (DVD)/ Documentary / 56 min. / Rating: Unrated

Once relegated to the margins of society, pornography has emerged as one of the most visible and profitable sectors ($10-12 Billion annually). At the same time its content has become more extreme and harsh, more overtly sexist and racist. This eye-opening and disturbing film tackles the complexity behind this seeming paradox, placing the voices of critics, producers, and performers alongside the observations of men and women as they candidly discuss the role pornography has played in shaping their sexual imaginations and relationships. Honest and non-judgmental, The Price of Pleasure moves beyond the liberal vs. conservative debates to paint a myth-busting and nuanced portrait of how pleasure and pain, commerce and power, liberty and responsibility have become intertwined in the most intimate area of our lives. (Distributor: Cinema Libre Studio)

THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED
Directed by: Kirby Dick
Featuring: Kevin Smith, Matt Stone, John Waters, Darren Aronofsky, Maria Bello, Atom Egoyan
Released in US theatres / 2006 /Documentary/ 97 min. / Rating: Unrated

Academy-Award winning director Kirby Dick takes on the Motion Picture Association of America in this hilarious investigation of the ratings board and its profound impact on American culture. At Sundance, the film received a standing ovation amidst a wave of favorable coverage by major publications. Rolling Stone (“terrific…indispensable”), Entertainment Weekly (“irresistible”) and USA Today (“rated R for raves. Dick talks to numerous directors and actors about the censorship of their movies before release. Interviews include: Kevin Smith, Matt Stone, John Waters, Darren Aronofsky, Maria Bello, Atom Egoyan. Dick also hires a lesbian family of private investigators to find out the names of the MPAA board members to determine if they are in fact parents of children 5-17. (Distributor: IFC Television)

SHORTBUS
Directed by: John Cameron Mitchell
Starring: Sook-Yin Lee, Peter Stickles and PJ DeBoy
Released 2006/ Drama/ 101 mins. / Rating: Unrated
This internationally acclaimed film, inspired by various underground NYC gatherings that took place in the early 2000, had its world premier at Cannes in 2006. Director John Cameron Mitchell brings together a cast of characters desperate to connect in bohemian New York City. The characters converge in a weekly underground salon in Brooklyn known for it’s blend of art, music, politics and carnality, where they face their faltering relationships and their individual sexual repressions. According to Mitchell, the film attempts to “employ sex in new cinematic ways”, and it includes a variety of explicit scenes of sexuality. (Distributor: Velocity/Thinkfilm)
Producers, Howard Gertler and Tim Perell received an Independent Spirit Award as Producers of the Year.