NEW YORK CITY—As pretty much everyone must know by now, porn is everywhere. And people are equally curious, fascinated, angry, disgusted and though reticent to admit it, intimidated, and even threatened by it.
Enter Barbara Nitke, whose latest book, American Ecstasy, is a behind-the-scenes look at making porn movies in New York City in the 1980s. Financed through a Kickstarter campaign, as it proved too provocative for mainstream publishing houses, the book captures in words and pictures the humanity and grit of the men and women who made sex flicks at the end of the Golden Age of Porn.
The timing for this book could not be better," Nitke noted. "Hollywood takes on the industry in its latest film, Don Jon, in which Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a modern-day lothario addicted to XXX everything, though he's dating his dream girl played by Scarlett Johansen. Earlier this year Lovelace, the biopic of Deep Throat star Linda Lovelace, hit theaters. Then of course, there's Boogie Nights, Star 80, and Woody Harrelson in The People vs. Larry Flynt, among other notorious films and TV shows like The Girls Next Door.
"American Ecstasy is a first-hand account of my time spent in the 1980s working on the sets of the biggest sex flicks being made in NYC," she continued. "It tells the true story in words and pictures of the men and women who are fantasized about in the private lives of many, and yet derided by society.
"My own story is similar. Given the content of my photographs, not one mainstream publishing house would touch American Ecstasy. It was completely funded through an extremely successful Kickstarter campaign.
"I hope you can come to the launch party and look forward to seeing you!"
The party, which is sponsored by Tara Meltzer and Norwood, will take place on Tuesday, October 29, at The Screening Room at Norwood, 241 West 14 Street, New York City. There will be a cash bar from 7-7:30, followed by a Q&A session with Barbara Nitke as well as a photo viewing until 9 p.m.
