SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Today NakedSword releases what the studio contends is its most ambitious project to date, the gay independent feature film I Want Your Love, playing exclusively on membership site NakedSword.com.
As the studio explains it, from the start, I Want Your Love was a cinematic hybrid. Indie film director Travis Mathews's story about gay relationships was too explicit for most mainstream producers but wasn't necessarily "porn," either. With I Want Your Love, NakedSword aims to bridge the gap between mainstream and porn. I Want Your Love is financed and produced by NakedSword for distribution on its award-winning online video distribution platform, NakedSword.com. It is also being distributed on DVD exclusively via online retailer TLAGAY.
Tim Valenti, President of NakedSword says, "NakedSword has always been more than just gay adult films. Since the beginning, we strived to offer creative original content that appealed to the gay community in addition to having the top gay adult films and studios on the site available to our members."
NakedSword says that it pioneered what is now not uncommon in the gay porn space; an online series that features a story and through-line that keep consumers coming back for more to see new episodes. NakedSword produced the first gay soap opera called Wet Palms in 2004 and brought story lines and production values in the form of an online series to the forefront of the industry in 2010 with Golden Gate franchise. Currently, the NakedSword Originals production arm headed by award-winning director mr. Pam is releasing 12 original series per year with brand new episodes released in NakedSword membership every week.
Valenti goes on to say, "With I Want Your Love we saw a golden opportunity to produce an incredible gay independent feature with a story that will have mass appeal across the community and beyond while further cementing our goal of taking consumers beyond porn and offering them an array of gay adult entertainment not found anywhere else online."
I Want Your Love had its premiere at San Francisco's Frameline Festival, sold out shows at Outfest in Los Angeles and a screening at Lincoln Center in New York. I Want Your Love has been covered in mainstream press that normally wouldn't pay attention to the gay adult industry¸including major outlets such as The New York Times, Variety, UK Guardian, Indiewire, Huffington Post and dozens more.
Still, NakedSword knew from the beginning that for a film with any explicit sex, theatrical release was going to be limited. Just last week the news hit that exhibition of the film was banned in Australia prompting Oscar nominated actor James Franco to film a video coming to the film's defense, which has gone viral and been covered by Hollywood mainstream press this week. See the video here.
"We know what gay men watch, we know how they watch, and now we're in the business of creating the content they watch," Valenti argued in a piece for Huffington Post this weekend, explaining how distribution models such as his may lead to a “golden age” for gay filmmakers by giving them the tools to reach different audience segments at once.
Adding to the adult entertainment/mainstream crossover notoriety of I Want Your Love is the fact that the feature was produced in association with BelAmi founder and adult filmmaker GDuroy as well as Emmy award-winning producer Jason Buchtel. With the release of I Want Your Love, now playing exclusively on NakedSword.com, the film will straddle the two worlds — one adult, one independent feature film.
NakedSword has built a stand-alone film site that features digital downloads, rentals, and DVD sales as well as a safe for work presentation that highlights the film over the flesh for more mainstream audiences at www.IWantYourLovethemovie.com.
Valenti closes by saying, "This is a movie about gay life and relationships. If we wanted to just sell sex, we could have made another porno. But where’s the challenge in that?"
