AUSTIN, Texas—The annual South by Southwest is known for introducing provocative films to the world at large, and this year a documentary from French feminist filmmaker, author and former adult performer Ovidie is attracting plenty of attention.
Pornocracy: The New Sex Multinationals premiered Sunday, March 12, and is already being dubbed a “must-see” by numberous mainstream press outlets, including The Huffington Post, The Austin Chronicle and more.
A write-up of the film on the SXSW site reads as follows: “French feminist icon, filmmaker, and adult film director Ovidie investigates shocking modern changes in the international adult film industry, and how the arrival of websites showing amateur and pirated clips has transformed the way porn is made and consumed. In her investigation, she exposes how a group of programmers hijacked the adult industry to create a mysterious multinational corporation that virtually controls the entire adult industry worldwide.”
Pornocracy has played at some film festivals internationally, but the SXSW screenings mark it’s American debut.
“Whether people agree or disagree with the message of the documentary, it’s still put together very well,” said Nate Glass, owner of Takedown Piracy, who is interviewed in the film.
Pornocracy features three major “acts”: In the first, Ovidie focuses on interviewing current performers, many of whom say they are increasingly asked to perform more intense and more hardcore acts to remain active. In the second, she focuses on the history of tube sites and the role they have played in the industry.
“She investigates who is behind these sites,” Glass said. “Much of the information has already been put out there, but only a small part in one article, and other pieces of information in other articles. She asks who is Mindgeek? Who is Fabian [Thylmann]? Everything is gathered here in once place and presented in video form.”
The final portion of the documentary talks with current web performers and the ways the performers are related to the current state of the industry.
“I don’t really think the documentary is anti-porn at all,” Glass said. “I think there was a bit of Ovidie’s perspective of how things were different when she was a performer to what the state of the industry is now.”
“But I do think the film is a good starting point to ask questions and have discussions that maybe some of us in the industry might not want to have,” he added.
Pornocracy will be screened again Monday, March 13, and Wednesday, March 15, at SXSW.
For more information, visit Schedule.SXSW.com.
