Final Erotic Film – No Butter

Yes you read right, No Butter is my final erotic/ explicit film.

Why you ask?

When I started on this journey there were little to no women or queers making alternative, ethical explicit films.  However, now there are  many more women and queer filmmakers, who are making explicit films that are exciting, interesting and that continue to challenge the concept of pornography.  The other reason is that I feel I don’t have anything more to say, there no longer is the driving passion to create such content, so I have decided that this is my last feminist porn film.

I will continue making films, focusing more on documentaries.  The time I’ve spent making explicit films has allowed me as a female filmmaker the opportunity to produce and direct with creative freedom.  I’ve met and worked with many amazing people and it has been an honour and privilege to work with you all.  So thank you to the community, I will continue to be a part of you and look forward to mentoring the next generation of ground breaking young women and queers who want to re-image sexuality on screen.

To give you a little insight into No Butter, it’s a film noir told from the perspective of the femme fatale.  The story it that of Ida, who when her husband is unable to give her what she desires, she hatches a plan to get her bread buttered.

It stars Kim Cums and Stirling Cooper, has beautiful cinematography by Reed Morrison and music by Utopian Crush.

You can view the trailer here.

Or watch the film here.

Enjoy.

 

New erotic film: Evolution- Ages of Sex

On the erotic filmmaking front, a short film I made entitled Evolution (which is part of a larger film called Ages of Sex for Thagson Media in Spain), is finally available digitally through my website!

Evolution is about a loving couple whom has lost their passion for each other, due to being bogged down in the day to day routine of life. However, an unexpected arrival unlocks hidden desires and reignites their lust for each other.

Interested?  Check it out here 

If you would like to learn more about the film and see me with shocking white blonde hair, you can see the behind the scene here.

 

Wicked Women

Japser Layouts – Wicked Women

At the end of last year, I had the privilege of being chosen as one of 10 filmmakers to be part of an ABC Arts and Screen Australia initiative, Love Bites.  Film Victoria came on board too! The films were part of the 40-year celebrations of Mardi Gras.

 

I had pitched the idea of a film about a lesbian sex magazine, called Wicked Women, that ran from the late 1980s until the mid 1990s.  For me this film was about highlighting the pioneering women who were brave and broke away from conventions around sexual and gender expression, and who ultimate made it easier for me and many other to explore our sexual expression.

 

I’d like to give a massive thanks to all at the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives, who without their amazing resources this would not have been possible.  Especially to Nick Henderson and Kathy Sports for the generosity of their time and knowledge.

 

Making a film is a collaborative effort, so I would also like to thank Stitch Williams for letting me cover her hands in makeup, Felicia Smith for her beautiful images, Hannah Palmer for making magic with lights, Troy Mauri for his sound design, Tony Stevens for his editing and being a creative collaborator, Jo Chichester at the ABC for her wisdom and assistance in guiding me through this process, Alicia Brown at Film Victoria for helping out this underground indie filmmaker make sense of funding processes, Alyssa Orvis  from Screen Australia, Kate Pappas for being a wise owl, Shaun Miller for providing reason at stressful times, DJ Gemma and Mystery Carnage for music, and Glitta SuperNova for the extra stories!

 

There would be no film without the Jasper Laybutts, Lisa Salmon and Kimberley O’Sullivan.  Thank you to you all from your time and stories from that era, and for trusting me to upholding your legacy.

 

If you are in Australia, you can check the film out here.

 

And the winner is…….The Bedroom for Best Director.

Much to my surprise The Bedroom has won Best Director at the International Toronto Porn Awards (formerly the Feminist Porn Awards) on Sunday night!

I was hoping to attend the festival and awards this year but work and other commitments conspired against me…maybe next film!

Thanks again to all the crowdfunding contributors who helped make The Bedroom!

You can check out The Bedroom here:

http://www.poisonappleproductions.com.au/product/the-bedroom/

Or if you are in Melbourne you can come and see it on the Big Screen with a Q and A with the cast, giveaways and lots more!

http://www.poisonappleproductions.com.au/product/the-bedroom-melbourne-screening/

Or maybe you’d like to learn more about how the film was made?  Megan Spencer spent time with us on set capturing the ins and outs of The Bedroom!

http://www.poisonappleproductions.com.au/product/the-bedroom-behind-the-scenes/

I hope you enjoy!

The Bedroom to open Berlin Porn Film Festival!

the-bedroom-1990-1
Zahra Stardust in The Bedroom

I’m very excited to announce that The Bedroom will be the opening night film at the Berlin Porn Film Festival on October 26th 2016.

This date will also correspond with the release of The Bedroom online and in a very limited edition DVD.   I will be attending the festival and you can live tweet along with me #bedroomparty

Big thanks to all the awesome people who contributed to our crowd funding and helped us make The Bedroom.

More details soon.

Video On Demand

Its been a very long time between post and please excuse my slackness but I have been dealing with some big health issues, but more on that at a later date.

However, I have been setting up some of my films as Video On Demand or VOD, which is very exciting to have my films enter the next phase of distribution options available to independent filmmakers.

So please find below some of the titles currently available and I will be adding more as time goes on.

THE BAND

BEHIND THE SCENES- THE BAND

MAKING IT HANDMADE

I hope you enjoy!

Writing a new erotic film.

Finally, I have found  focus and  begun working on a new erotic film entitled “Screwed in Suburbia”.  It feels great to have something to work towards, as I was feeling lost towards the end of last year and didn’t know where I wanted to go in regards to my next film.  More details on it soon, but we already have at least a US distributor attached who is they love it may take on international distribution!

I’ve been trying to write without putting pressure on myself as I have a habit of wanting to make everything perfect then and there rather than just letting it flow and leaving holes in it that can be reflected upon and fixed later.  Fingers crossed I can push out a draft before I return to teaching this year!

Also, I have begun a collaboration with an amazing script writer, Shanti Gudgeon.  We are creating an erotic thriller together which is very exciting.  I love writing with other people as you can bounce ideas off each other.  The last film I wrote in a partnership was “The Money Shot” with Lance Petrie.  It was great as I would write a scene get half way through loose my focus and pass it to him and he would finish it off.    It speeds up the process dramatically.

Restless.

One thing I’m finding hard at the moment is trying to work out where to next, in regards to filmmaking. I’ve got several projects I’m interested in but can’t work out which one to put my energy into.

This morning, I watch the soft trailer for Petra Joy’s new film “The Female Voyeur” and got all sentimental about being at the Berlin Porn Film Festival and meeting her.  Petra is one of the many wonderful women I meet and she has a highly unique erotic style. We both share similar passions for promoting a variety of bodies and sexual acts that your normally don’t see. I highly recommend you check out her work if you are interested in an alternative to mainstream depictions of sex!

It filled me with the desire to make my next erotic film “Screwed in Suburbia: Perfect on the outside, Perverted on the inside”.  Its about a young woman trying to escape suburbia and move into the inner city.

The other project I have been toying with is an adaptation of a book by Australian author Emily Maguire, “The Gospel According to Luke”. I first was introduced to her work through a book called “Taming the Beast”, which I would love to make into a film, but the subject matter is so taboo I think it would be extremely hard to find finance to make it! She also interviewed me for her book “Princesses and Pornstars:Sex and Power and Identity”. I still remember the day she contacted me and I put two and two together and realised she was the author of such a twisted and confronting book as “Taming the Beast”! You can guess I was absolutely ecstatic about being interviewed by her!

“Man Made” is a documentary I would like to make as a follow up to “Making it handmade” which is going to be about men, craft and what it is to be a man today! I’m slowly finding subjects and researching but I’m guessing, its going to be at least a two to three year project like “Making it Handmade” was.

So you can see there a lots of ideas but I’m finding juggling motherhood, working and making films to be overwhelming at the moment. I desperately need to update my website so have decided to focus on that and then try to work out where to go next!

Thank you, thank you from the bottom of my crafty heart!

Here’s a very blurry picture of myself at home just before “Making it Handmade” premiered on ABC2. As you can see I lead a glamorous life, in my tracksuit pants, slippers, the washing drying in the back ground and a knitted nanna rug on my knees (yes I did make it myself) and of course a glass of bubbly in hand.

It was strange to watch it,as I have seen it so many times, so it was very surreal, but I did enjoy the bottle of bubbly…maybe a little too much as I struggled teaching the next day!

Thank you to all 33,000 of you who tuned in to watch it and to the 9000 odd of you who watched it on iview. I was astounded by the numbers considering nearly all of the publicity was done through social media sites of those involved in the film!

The film stirred up some passionate discussion online:

On the films facebook page comments varied from:

Quoting Cheryl Rabe
“Thought the documentary was very disappointing. Not all crafters are activists. I’d like to think the majority of us make tasteful and useful things for others to enjoy, without sending any sort of political message.”

We then proceed to engage in a debate about if the act of making is political in itself!

To:
Quoting KrÌstíÑã Gréeñwõod
Loved it. It’s re-ignited a spark in me. Chronic Illness has taken away a lot of things from me. I have a creative mind and a bit of a wicked sense of humour. This is right up my ally. 😀

Searching online I found so many different response so of them that caught my eye talked about:

– the craft demonstrated was of low quality.
This I find interesting as often craft can be elitist and not inclusive. I liked the idea that in the doco, its about giving it a go. After all even if you are now highly skilled, you started off this way and its just been practice that has enabled you to make amazing work that is technically perfect!

– that the documentary was anti making money from craft.
To be straight, no I’m not. I actually think that it is amazing that something so lovingly crafted can make you money, especially as in the past it was seen to have no commercial value. I guess I wanted to show that it is a hard road, that its not easy and there is a lot of work involved. Also in my research I was finding lots of women who were experiencing burn out from trying to make a full time living from crafting and giving up on it. However, if you can make a full time living from craft, I think you are amazing and I take my hat off to you all and bow down low in respect of your brilliance!

– Offense. This happened for may reasons, Casey’s work was obvious but that I had left out so many women who make beautiful practical things has come up a few times. I wish I had the money and time to make a whole series on the women and the men I meet, spoke to, interviewed and read about online who are making wonderful, amazing stuff, who are from all walks of life and ages. When I was researching for this film it just kept on growing and growing, but I was restricted by the fact, I had no money to make this doco. I had no funding, it was made in my holidays with the money I’d managed to save from teaching. I shot it over 2 years and then edited it over about 9 months. Thus I had to keep it simple and that’s why all the women are from Melbourne ( which is where I live). I wanted to challenge the idea of how society perceived crafters. I was drawn to women who were using traditional craft but subverting it in someways. From embracing the idea that it was about spirit and giving it a go, not making it perfect, to being craftivists.

– Inspiration This of course is my favorite reaction. I loved receiving posts and email from people who aren’t crafty feeling inspired to give it go, or others who are lapsed crafters wanting to make again.

If you missed it, you can order your own copy on DVD here.

Also there will be screenings happening in Radelaide on Saturday Oct 8th at 6:00pm at the Reading Room as part of the Festival of Unpopular Culture . Check it out the screening and there is a radical craft workshop beforehand.

Or if you are in Western Australia you can check it out at the Soul Highway “Wave Rock Weekender” on from Friday 28th Oct til 30th Oct.

Thanks once again to all wonderful people who helped make the film and also to all the wonderful people who have watched it. Keep crafting.

Change of date for “Making It Handmade” screening on ABC2!

Looks like “Making it Handmade” is hitting our screens earlier than expected and is now scheduled to premiere on ABC2 Sunday 14th August at 9:30pm.

You’ll get to see the wonderful women who took part in the doco, Pip Lincolne, Rayna Fahey, Casey Jenkins, Gemma Jones and Justin Telfer, talking about all things craft!

So set your alarm clocks, grab your craft and enjoy!