I wonder if you experts would know of one. I'm trying to collect them all.
the porn documentaries i saw so far:
The Girl Next Door. w/ stacey valentine WADD, the john holmes documentary Shauna Grant: death of a porn star The Other Hollywood Secret History of the Other Hollywood (from History channel) X-rated Ambition, The Traci Lords story Pornucupia (HBO series) I want to be a Porn star (MTV) Fallen Angels (80's doc directed by gregory Dark) The Dark side of Porn (4-part series) Deep throat documentary Debbie does Dallas Documentary Screw, al goldstein documenary
Just another bare bum in the shiower 1739 Posts 12/04
Posted - Feb 3 2007 : 1:48PM
You seem to have most of them.
There was also that excellent doco on Annabel Chong and her world gang-bang record.
An interesting one that I saw recently was from the UK and called "Pornography: the Musical". Interesting interviews with people in the sex industry interspersed with bizarre musical routines featuring those same people.
Sorry for my late answer, Moronicus. If you are referring to the "Felicity incident", then the answer is no. The "Felicity incident" was covered in Channel 4's documentary Hardcore from 2001, which I haven't seen yet. Check Wikipedia's Max Hardcore entry for more info
Edited by - Milo on 2/9/2007 7:56:48 PM
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GreatGatsby Deactivated User
15 Posts 2/07
Posted - Feb 9 2007 : 8:16PM
It's not a documentary, but I loved Boogie Nights.
Skronk... have you heard about that film crew that has been shooting for like 2 years now? A company in Germany filmed it... Its called "9 to 5" they are amazing, followed Evil Angel.. Tricia and John, Adurey Hollander, Otto, Sasha, me, and a ton of other people. Even filmed at this years AVN awards.. Nothing bad like CBS or abc or w.e the company was. 9 2 5, is looking at only the good, cause beleive it or not, in porn there is way way more good than bad....
I've been hearing about Germans and maybe even cross their path. The best porn docu is all the BTS footage, if anyone could license all of it and edit it ... That would be a readymade Sundance prize winner.
I watch KAtusmi shoot something naugty in the Spiegler suite bathroom before the AVns. That rocked.
I have the Shauna Grant saga on a VHS, with live Husker Du on Joan Rivers. W00T!
Mia, I have only been on a few porn sets, but I agree ... so far, it's all been roses. I hear a LOT of stories but everyone I've known has been super professional (or, one time, very drunk but, um, bizarrely cheerful)
I saw WADD and thought it was very well done. Really shows the downside of the industry as far as drugs go.
PORNSTAR (the documentary on Ron Jeremy) was well done, too. There's a part in it where Bridgette Kerkove (I think) doesn't want to kiss him and he needs to be alone for a minute. Proves that it's not all fun and games on set all the time.
I didn't know that HBO's Thinking XXX was available on DVD and certainly didn't know it had 3 hours of extras. That's a hell of a lot for a 43 minute program!
I looked it up and found that HBO is replaying it, but only a VERY few times this month. My Tivo says 2/22 @ 11PM on HBO East and 2/23 @ 2AM on HBO West. HBO's schedule on their site shows a few more:
I thought Frontline's story on porn, "American Porn" was highly insightful, particularly with respect to the legal issues. For me, it highlighted just how "lucky" we are right now, since porn was being AGRESSIVELY prosecuted up to the early 90s when Reno shifted her focus to drug prosecution instead.
You can read about this documentary, read interviews, and even watch the entire episode on the PBS site:
The Larry Flynt movie starring Woody Harrelson is excellent. It's amazing how they release some 10k porn movies every year but no documentaries, I would enjoy a BTS comp of some kind, it's the funniest, most disturbing and realest material on porn available.
There was a documentary about porn on a French channel like half year ago. At the end the conclusion was "porn is a business without solution" A famous director from Hollywood (can't remember his name) was saying about porn films " you see one, you've seen all. You just can laugh twice the same joke !"
Thinking XXX was very thoughtfully done considering Greenfield-Sanders doesn't really know anything about porn. I'd like to pick up the special edition DVD. The package design is really rad.
I think the only documentary that would actually do the job would have to be a cinema verite-type thing ... like Frederic Wiseman or the Mayleses ... Like a porno "Grey Gardens" or "Salesman."
There is a rare biopic on Dave Hardman called Working Stiff (Zane Entertainment). It is out of print on VHS and to my knowledge was never released on DVD.
Sounds like those other most amazing outrageous police hunt worst sport distasters kind of crap with as much propaganda against doing stupid things like jumping off clips or try such weird european sports as 'soccer' and 'rally'. But if it's on sale, why not.
There are two that come to mind that have been shown on British television. England's Louis Theroux did one about porn, looked at some people just starting out, and also a straight guy who did gay porn. Really good interviews, infact all of Louis Theroux' work is great. His episodes have ranged from American 'tourist hunters' in Africa to plastic surgery in CA to prison life at a CA pen. Another interesting one is called "How Porn Conquered The World". It looks at how porn has been at the forefront of technology advances, and how they adapt and change the business.
pornography wasn't sex but fantasies of an impossibly hospitable world 12377 Posts 9/07
Posted - Nov 28 2008 : 3:22AM
No one has mentioned the amazing Exhausted: John C Holmes, The Real Story? It's bullshit but very funny and a great time capsule that inspired several scenes in Boogie Nights. There was another British TV series called Pornography: A Secret History of Civilization that had some excellent episodes, especially '20th Century Foxy' about 70s features.
As mentioned above England's Louis Theroux did one about porn in the 90's or early 00's. Last month he went back to LA to catch up with the pornstars he met and to see how the industry has changed. Apparently it's not going well. His new doc is called; Louis Theroux: Twilight of the Porn Stars.
Has anyone ever made one that wasn't intended to be a (barely disguised) anti-porn commercial? I thought documentaries strove to depict things simply as they are, rather than to put your own spin on it.
^ Which ones did you find to be anti-porn? I would add History of the Blue Movie (Dir. Alex deRenzy), and a new movie is about to come out (or came out?) called After Porn Ends. Seems to be interviews/stories following porn stars after they left the business. From what I've heard, it's fairly well-balanced in that it has the good, the bad, and the inbetween just as you might expect. Also, an old doc called Fallen Angels is worth a watch. Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon is great.
Edited by - Gore Gore Girl on 7/2/2012 12:20:21 PM
People tell lies my friend. Some people like publicity. I don't like publicity. 674 Posts 5/11
Posted - Jul 2 2012 : 1:33PM
This film got so many negative reviews at Netflix I gave it a pass. Thanks to your post I just put it in my rental queue. I now look forward to watching it. Shauna Grant: Death of a Porn Star is excellent as others mention and the title Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy is worth viewing but it focuses squarely on Ron Jeremy, not so much the industry as a whole.
A Sky Television 2003 series "Porno Valley" focused on the then Vivid girls. Interesting bits about Paul Thomas and the remaking of "The Devil in Miss Jones".
I would like to watch a documentary showing the backstage of porn movie making, how scenes are prepared and shot, how actors are directed, how the editing goes on...etc without any kind of censorship. Can anyone recommend me a good one?
I thought Popwhore: A New American Dream was pretty good. They drag out the usual anti-porn talking heads like Shelley Lubben, but it primarily focusses on Tatum Reed and her experiences, rather than addressing the industry as a whole. For the most part it doesn't take an anti-porn or particularly judgemental stance (with the exception of a pretty vile "sex therapist" interviewee, who argued that no porn performer could be a fit mother). It's worth tracking down, and definitely worth watching if it shows up on TV again.
I don't know. I haven't watched all of them. I've watched a few in the past (can't remember what they were called) and most of them had at least a vague stink to them that I didn't enjoy. I'm just saying. Most things happen for a reason. I don't think anyone makes a "documentary" about porn just because it's interesting. There's probably a motive. Good or bad? I don't know. I'm guessing.
^ I watched the trailer but haven't watched it yet. I believe I commented on it above. I have heard that it is fairly balanced, with both good and bad and in between stories.
pornography wasn't sex but fantasies of an impossibly hospitable world 12377 Posts 9/07
Posted - Jul 9 2012 : 2:09AM
I liked the documentary on Rob Black made back during his trial called The Porn King vs. The President, it was balanced, well made (believe it was done for the ever-smutty BBC4) and even made me feel bad for Rob Black!
To anyone who was watched a lot of these documentaries Do you think porn has been well serviced by them or are there still areas that havent been addressed? Are there different approaches documentary makers should use? I'm very interested in watching porn documentaries and so far consider '9-5 Days' to be the best of the few ive got my hands on.
People tell lies my friend. Some people like publicity. I don't like publicity. 674 Posts 5/11
Posted - Jul 9 2012 : 8:59PM
Folks, I just watched Thinking XXX documentary that I rented from Netflix. No wonder it received such poor member reviews. Just some brief feedback may be of help to you that I copied and pasted from my review and which I just submitted on Netflix: "A thorough waste of time and I have a strong interest in adult films. All of these adult performers are seasoned pros, most in their 30s, 40s or 50s and it is all shown in a studio where no video is shot, but just still photos are captured for print. The main feature runs just under one hour but the extras have extended interviews with about another 30 people associated with the industry, from performers to those behind the scenes. About all I really got out of this is the seriousness these people take their industry and it is all work and no pleasure while this was shot. The people seem to be genuinely nice too and very polite. You see a lot of nudity but there is nothing whatsoever covered about actual sex. This is dreadfully boring."
i love docos these would be my fav close to the subject the girl next door annabelle chong story whatever the ron jeremy one is wadd louis theroux- weird weekends- porn louis theroux- twilight of a porn star
jim powers out takes are ok, watchable but all it did was turn me off the porn stars in them not on porn but on sex the bunny ranch louis theroux weird weekends las vegas brothel louis theroux weird weekends swingers bbc doco on sex addiction bbc doco on masturbation addiction
If we're including slightly off-topic documentaries about the sex industry in general, I'd recommend BBC3's Table Dancing Diaries. It follows a number of different strippers, telling their stories and looking at their experiences working in the clubs. To me that's much more interesting than the pontificating presenters and talking heads you usually get on these programmes. I think it's pretty balanced and shows the dancers as a diverse group of people. That was nice to see, especially at a time when various feminist groups are portraying dancers as broken and exploited victims needing to be rescued by closing down the clubs.
People tell lies my friend. Some people like publicity. I don't like publicity. 674 Posts 5/11
Posted - Jul 10 2012 : 4:28PM
I guess I don't understand your review. It's a documentary, not a porn flick. What were you looking for?
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I suggest you view it if you haven't already and you should see why I did not like it. A documentary is supposed to be informative, send a message, enlighten the viewer. This documentary, Thinking XXX, was an utter waste of time with nothing revealing. Nearly all of it was listening to the cameraman give out directions to the models..."turn your head to the left, turn your head down, take off your clothes", etc. It is all frivolous talk when they held brief interviews with the performers.