AB Films, one such organization, decided that screening porn was the best use of their allocation. And if the attendance numbers are any indication, the folks at AB Films were right.
On Nov. 20, in a move extensively covered by local media, AB Films showed Digital Playground’s swashbuckling sex tale “Pirates” at the CMU McConomy Auditorium.
More than one thousand students showed up, with scores turned away.
“I don't think I've ever seen people so excited about a movie on campus,” Chloe Connelly, AB Films’ chair, said. “There were more people interested than we could let in. The screening was phenomenal!”
The director of “Pirates,” Joone, waxed poetic on the event, and said the college screening was in line with his desire to create an adult film that satisfied a wide demographic.
“It’s nice to see a positive response in so many markets,” Joone said. “The college crowd represents the people who will be running the country tomorrow; they’re bright, they’re educated, they’re men and they’re women. If this showing is any reflection of our societies growing acceptance for adult entertainment with high production values, I’m honored to have had an effect.”
An official statement from CMU released earlier this week said that while the film’s showing was not “consistent with our values as a university community, it is not prohibited by university policy.”
A CMU spokesperson who wished to remain anonymous told XBiz the school is looking into possibly banning the event, but she doubts it will be able to do so.
“Obviously this has caused some controversy,” the spokesperson said. “But the number of complaints from students has actually be very small, and since it was an ‘adult-only’ event, we don’t really have much recourse for stopping it.”
Connelly said students had to have an ID to get into the three separate screenings of the film, all of which were sold out.