Cannes Short Film Corner 16: Love In Porn
Love in Porn is a documentary about romantic lives of those that succeed in the world of adult films.
Interview with Director/Producer: Kseniya Yorsh
Watch Love In Porn on Prime Video and Feelmakers
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
I was interested to explore the romantic lives of people who choose the porn industry as a career path and the influence the nature of their work has on their private lives. However, the decision to do this exploration in a visual manner through the film medium came from a personal realization that a lot of the films that tackle this industry carry a negative message within them. I wanted to make a film that would be humane and honor a Person with all their choices, flaws, dreams, hopes. That first, and then what they do for a living.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Love in Porn shows the industry that is traditionally very closed to outsiders. The film intimately explores the behind-the-scenes life of porn actors, directors, producers, and lifts the veil from the mystery of their everyday life.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
I am a firm believer that deep down we are all the same, i.e. we want to be loved, accepted, and understood, and that a professional choice defines many aspects of one’s lives but doesn’t constitute the full personality of somebody (which is often thought of in case of the adult industry professionals). My film shows relatable traits and characteristics of people whole lifestyle is very different from the audience’s.
How has the film evolved over the course of its development and production?
I started off by exploring the whole array of professions within the sex industry. My first interviewees were prostitutes and escorts too. However, closer to the production start I made a choice to film only those whose faces I can show in the film. Thus, in the final film you can see people only from the porn industry, professional involvement which is legal in California.
What type of feedback have you received so far? Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
I was pleasantly surprised to see how well people react to the film. No matter the background and personal views, people have received the documentary with a great interest. That makes me happy as a filmmaker as it shows that I was able to make the film engaging and appealing to audience that is vastly different in its origins.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival director, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
As a filmmaker and someone who is passionate about the subject matter, I am very much interested in making the film available to a bigger audience. Thus, presenting the documentary at more festivals and having it distributed is my primary goal now. Very often people reach out to me and ask where they can watch the film. I want to be able to send them to a platform where they will be able to view it. Therefore, teaming up with sales agents and distributors is a vitally important step for me now.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I would really like more people to keep their minds and hearts open about those whose lifestyles differ from their owns. Labeling and categorizing is a part of human nature and a subconscious skill that we have developed over the course of the evolution, when survival depended on being able to recognize your tribe and associate others with their tribes. However, as educated and emotionally-intelligent people, we nowadays need to learn to recognize stigmatizing in what can appear as a common point of view and eliminate that from how we see the people and the world. I am not a behavioral scientist to implement methods, but I am an artist who evokes feelings and emotions that stimulate the thought process. That is the impact I am thriving to achieve within films.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Is it a stigma indeed, or is this attitude dictated by moral and ethical norms that exclude certain types of behaviors from being socially acceptable?
What are the key creatives you are developing or working on now?
We have just finished principal photography on a feature film I’m producing. It’s a story about a Christian girl with conservative views and a very judgemental attitude to the world. However, when she gets raped, becomes pregnant, and by the values of her community is considered to be the one who sinned, she starts a journey of reevaluating her morals and distinguishing her faith from the views and interpretations of those who claim to be the same but who in fact aren’t. This film too tackles the themes of judgement and redefining the values when something turns out to be different than it appears. We also find the topic of abortion to be extremely important to discuss now in the light of recent elections in the US and the plans of the conservatives to limit women’s freedoms in making choices about their bodies and their lives. In the end, it is a beautiful and intimate film about one girl’s life.
Interview: December 2016
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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Love in Porn
Love in Porn is a documentary about romantic lives of those that succeed in the world of adult films.
Length: 19:32
Director, producer: Kseniya Yorsh
About the director and producer: Kseniya Yorsh is a Belarusian film director and producer who lives and works in Los Angeles. After graduating from a film school in LA she has produced 14 short and 2 feature films (narrative and documentaries) that went to a variety of film festivals in Europe and the US.
Looking for: film festival directors, distributors
Funders: executive producer Rauan Khassan, crowdfunding
Made in association with: New York Film Academy
Release date: April 2016