To anyone who works in or near the sex industry, the fact that so many entries in the 1999 San Francisco Sex Worker Film and Video Festival showed real cinematic vision should come as no surprise. After all, most of the artists here either strip or fuck for a living, so they know their subject - and they clearly proved they do it with eyes wide open.
The festival, which took place May 7-9, was largely the brainchild of Carol Leigh, known professionally as "Scarlet Harlot," a political activist and videographer in addition to her work as a prostitute. Several entries in the festival bore Leigh's videographic stamp, and three features were entirely Leigh's own: Blind Eye To Justice, about HIV+ women in the California prison system; Mother's Mink, a study of intergenerational values; and the musical Safe Sex Slut.
Most of Friday's and Saturday's offerings were shown at the Roxie Cinema at 3117 16th Street, though Sunday's presentations switched to the Artists Television Access building at 992 Valencia Street.
The festival displayed a good cross-section of sex workers' product, both gay, straight and transgendered. Several documentaries besides Blind Eye were on the bill, including such full-length features as Cass Paley's Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes; Annie Sprinkle's Herstory of Porn by Annie Sprinkle and Scarlet Harlot; and Daddy, Make Me A Star, from Sharon Mitchell and Lisa Rollins; all of which were both good history and enjoyable viewing.
But the showcase event was the premiere of A Gun For Jennifer by stripper Deborah Twiss and Todd Morris, a movie which Leigh credits with having inspired her to put the entire festival together. The film, an ultraviolent mixture of Ms. 45 and The Drop Squad, stars the gorgeous Twiss in the title role, as an Ohio housewife on the run after killing her husband. As she's about to be raped in Manhattan, she's rescued by a gang of women who kill or castrate rapists, child molesters and the like.
The story of how the film was made is nearly as interesting as the film itself.
"I was working at Flashdancers in Manhattan," Twiss told the audience, "this really seedy, boring strip club where they sell $10 dances and you're standing 6 feet away from the guys, and this short little Joe Pesci-type character comes in, and he offers me a drink, and we start talking... and he says, 'I work for a Japanese corporation; I'm a loan officer, and this could be something that they're really into,' and I'm like, 'This is so cool!'.... So we followed through, and the guy seemed really legit, and we ended up getting $285,000 from him. Then, at the end of principal photography, he calls us up in the middle of the night, totally coked up on his ass, and he goes, 'Ohmigod, a private investigator is coming to your house tomorrow morning. I'm not a loan officer; I'm an accountant, and all the money I gave you is hot. Good luck.' And he hung up."
The story has a (nearly) happy ending, though. When officials from the Japanese company actually saw the film, they liked it.
Part of Friday night's screenings were a benefit for the Exotic Dancers' Alliance union, with several mini-documentaries about the joys and tribulations of stripping.
Another major presentation was Straight For The Money, "curated" by Hima B.; this film featured interviews with lesbian prostitutes and dancers concerning their feelings about their work performing for straight men and women.
There were literally dozens of shorter works also presented, as well as excerpts from longer works such as Juliet Anderson's Ageless Desire (see story next issue); Veronica Monet's Real Women, Real Sex; Joseph Kramer's Masturbation Memoirs; and k. daymond's Nice Girls Don't Do It, about squirting. Several of the filmmakers/videographers were present to talk about their works, and Sunday's program (which we were unable to attend) featured a roundtable discussion titled "Sex Workers Making Movies."
Leigh's achievement has inspired at least one other sex worker film/video festival in Portland, Ore., and she hopes that sex workers in other areas will warm to the idea as well.
Most shows at the Roxie were very well attended, and while total box office receipts were unavailable at press time, another such festival is certainly considered to be a possibility.
