LOS ANGELES — Deborah Anderson’s adult star documentary film “Aroused: The Lost Sensuality of a Woman” will be released to the public through a video-on-demand launch in February.
The film is based on the making of Anderson’s fine-art coffee table book of the same name in which she photographed 16 different adult performers lying naked on a bed except for wearing a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes.
The limited edition first run of the book will also be available to order online in February, when Anderson plans to host a red-carpet premiere in Los Angeles for both projects.
Anderson said the film will then go into a theatrical release in at least five major U.S. cities, including L.A., in March, followed by a DVD release in April. ARC Entertainment is handling the distribution of the film. The exact dates for the rollout will be finalized in the coming weeks, Anderson indicated.
“The movie has gone through so many different morphosises and now we’re in the final hours of changes and edits,” Anderson told XBIZ.
The well-known high fashion and celebrity photographer premiered the first version of the film in a private screening at William Morris Endeavor in May, and since then Anderson has been working to incorporate adult-themed content into the movie in an effort to further illustrate “the bigger story that I’m trying to tell,” she said.
“Hopefully something will shift in the consciousness of people when they see this movie,” Anderson said. “The bigger picture is that people will leave with a conversation and shine the torchlight within themselves and on their judgments and their fears when it comes to their own sexual desires.”
The project features an eclectic mix of performers — hand-picked by adult industry marketing pro Mike Moz who is executive producer — including Lisa Ann, Belladonna, Lexi Belle, Allie Haze, Ash Hollywood, Jesse Jane, Katsuni, Kayden Kross, Francesca Le, Brooklyn Lee, Asphyxia Noir, April O’Neil, Teagan Presley, Misty Stone, Tanya Tate and Alexis Texas.
Anderson’s longtime supporter Trina Venit, a Hollywood veteran, secured distribution for the film and also helped the filmmaker convey “the human story” that she set out to tell.
“I think these girls have shared so much with me about their journey and how it’s given them a voice,” Anderson said.
So far Anderson is thrilled with the early response to the coffee table book, which had an initial printing of 5000 copies and comes sealed inside a heavy, silver box. The performers who modeled for Anderson and some of her close friends are the only people so far who have seen the book.
“The shipments arrived a month ago. I’m very cautious as to where [the books] are ending up. They’re very distinct in their look,” she said, noting the book was designed to be a collector’s item. “Both Belladonna and Katsuni expressed that they felt I’d really captured their essence in these images, and that’s profoundly moving as an artist to be able to do that.”
The book will be available to purchase through the TheArousedProject.com website, on the models’ personal sites, and likely through Amazon.com in 2013, Anderson said.
“I’m so blessed,” she continued. “Everyone just understands the nature of the way in which I treated the images.”
Among the celebrities who’ve already expressed their support for the book are Elton John, Pink and Gina Gershon, each of whom Anderson recently photographed.
“I’ve had a lot of support from people around me who I’ve worked with before in a different world but understand the nature of what I’m trying to do with this,” Anderson said.
She said some high-profile magazines, including GQ, already have expressed interest in printing some of the Aroused images, and that a portion of proceeds from the sales of the book and film will be donated to a charity that is working to abolish sex slavery.
To read the XBIZ review of the film, click here.
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