SAN FRANCISCO — ‘Public Sex, Private Lives," an intimate portrait of adult performers Lorelei Lee, Princess Donna Dolore and Isis Love, premieres June 8 at SF DocFest.
The film will screen at 9 p.m. at the historic Roxie Theater in San Francisco, as well as at additional venues throughout the festival.
Chronicling some of the most challenging and vulnerable moments of the stars’ adult lives, the film lets viewers witness not just what happens behind-the-scenes of a porn set, but also in the women's private moments away from work.
Shot over four years, the film captures profound changes occurring in the lives of Lee, Dolore and Love, something no documentary has done before, according to the producers.
Director Simone Jude became inspired to shoot a feature documentary on porn performers in 2008. “As I got to know these women, I was struck by the contrast between simplified mainstream narratives of porn performers and the lived complexity of their identities and experiences,” Jude said. “I witnessed how powerfully their choice of career impacted the rest of their lives, whether they wanted it to or not.”
The creators said the film shines a light on a subculture that is often either vilified or glamorized. This film instead reveals the trying, messy, joyful, passionate, and complex reality of these women's personal lives. During the four years of production, Jude was given unprecedented access to these women's stories, following them across the country not just on set but into their kitchens, hotel rooms, and bedrooms.
In the movie, Dolore visits a family farmhouse in Kentucky for the holidays, revealing her job as a BDSM porn director to family members for the first time. Lee travels to Washington, D.C. to testify in a federal obscenity trial that could land porn producer John Stagliano in jail for decades. Love confronts the stigma associated with being a porn performer, working hard as a single mother to support her teenage son. Given the many conversations about porn that are circulating in mainstream media, the prodcuers said the film is timelier than ever.
“Pornography is a charged subject in public discourse, and this film brings an important, and yet often ignored, perspective into dialogue, that of the performers themselves,” Jude said. “My aim is to raise questions, rather than answer them, complicating the things we think we know and want to believe about this controversial field of work.”
Tickets will go on sale this month and will be available at Sfindie.com. "Public Sex, Private Lives" will be released online some time in the fall of 2013.
The movie was funded in part through a Kickstarter campaign, garnering support from more than 300 backers in 2012.
To learn more about the film visit PublicSexPrivateLives.com.
