Insight
A woman and a man locked in a room. A game of glances starts a mute challenge: the silence is broken only by breaths and moans.
Then, the wave of pleasure opens the door and, as in a dream, we find ourselves in the open sea.
What is porn? What is the relationship, in sex and its representation, between the observer and the subject that allows others to watch?
The artistic and political purpose of Insight is to enact the erotic “gaze- fetish” through the cinematic representation of a silenced practice: female masturbation. The attempt is to overcome the usual aesthetic and pornographic rhetoric by adding multiple interpretation levels as well as heterodox cultural suggestions and references.
In the movie, the uncovering of the protagonist’s body and her action matches the opening of the observer’s eye, forced into a motionless body but still an accomplice in a game unveiled by the role swapping in the finale. This reciprocity is a metaphor for the dialogic relation between equals that is also pursued in the exchange with the audience. This is the disruptive element we use to challenge the way the mainstream porn industry mostly represents masturbation. The mise en scène of this relation is the turning point itself as well as the element aiming to provoke excitement in both those who will identify with the protagonist, and those who will empathize with the observer.
The narrative space is marked by a dualism. The “outside”- the element of water- is a metaphor for the power of women (in the images courtesy of the video artist Valeria Guarcini), referring to an emotional memory with undefined outlines. Opposite, the inside - a post-industrial space, anonymous and claustrophobic - allows the mystery of the liaison between the protagonists to confuse the coordinates of space and time
This dualism represents two different dimensions, one erotic and one sight- focused. In the first one the eye is almost forced behind the lens of the binoculars/ camera. The atmosphere recalls the cinematic mirage of the Aeolian Islands: their raw and coastal eroticism inspired the writings of a relevant page in the history of the 50’s Italian movie scene (cf. The War of the Volcanos – documentary film directed by F. Patierno that goes behind the scenes during the production of the Stromboli film and inside the existential struggle of the Magnani, Rossellini and Bergman love triangle).
The second dimension reveals the correlation between voyeur and exhibitionist that links the protagonists: at first solely portraying their point of view, the picture later widens up by embracing the whole scene in the moment when the masturbation in itself starts. The eye is set free in the final apotheosis, when everything goes back to the initial dimension, into an “outside” that now has no constrictions or limits.
The choice of not adding any background music during the sex act (something that you would expect in average soft porn and female porn) has the purpose of defining the audio as an element of proximity and realism: music usually accompanies us into a scene and out again in the final moment, but during the masturbation the auditory perception of the public becomes naked and exposed beyond the protagonist’s flesh.
Insight is the first short film produced by The Girls of Porn (www.leragazzedelporno.org), a collective of Italian filmmakers who aim to carry out a series of 10 art porn films, half way between eroticism and pornography, conveying the diversity of the feminine point of view on sexuality.
An experience that takes inspiration from the Dirty Daries of Mia Endeberg and that has been completely self-produced through a long campaign of funding and communication. Press and media have given great prominence to the revolutionary aim of the project: in Italy sex still creates scandal, even more so if it's women dealing with it.
In addition, a further difficulty is the gender gap that affects women directors in the Italian film industry.
Despite the great interest of a potential audience, no production company has taken up the challenge of financing this project. As a matter of fact, we have been able to develop it only thanks to the help of many enthusiastic micro lenders: Insight's budget was funded by a crowdfunding campaign and through the event “Art for Porn” (an auction realized with the works of art donated by artists, photographers and sculptors willing to support the production of the project's short films).
A substantial part of the costs has been guaranteed by a main sponsor, D-Vision, a video and film equipment service that provided us with high quality tools and machinery. Last but not least, the team of professionals who oversaw the technical realization of the movie worked at a low fee and thus shared the artistic value of the project in a tangible way.
We're always in touch with our audience and supporters through various events and a constant presence on social media.
Then, the wave of pleasure opens the door and, as in a dream, we find ourselves in the open sea.
What is porn? What is the relationship, in sex and its representation, between the observer and the subject that allows others to watch?
The artistic and political purpose of Insight is to enact the erotic “gaze- fetish” through the cinematic representation of a silenced practice: female masturbation. The attempt is to overcome the usual aesthetic and pornographic rhetoric by adding multiple interpretation levels as well as heterodox cultural suggestions and references.
In the movie, the uncovering of the protagonist’s body and her action matches the opening of the observer’s eye, forced into a motionless body but still an accomplice in a game unveiled by the role swapping in the finale. This reciprocity is a metaphor for the dialogic relation between equals that is also pursued in the exchange with the audience. This is the disruptive element we use to challenge the way the mainstream porn industry mostly represents masturbation. The mise en scène of this relation is the turning point itself as well as the element aiming to provoke excitement in both those who will identify with the protagonist, and those who will empathize with the observer.
The narrative space is marked by a dualism. The “outside”- the element of water- is a metaphor for the power of women (in the images courtesy of the video artist Valeria Guarcini), referring to an emotional memory with undefined outlines. Opposite, the inside - a post-industrial space, anonymous and claustrophobic - allows the mystery of the liaison between the protagonists to confuse the coordinates of space and time
This dualism represents two different dimensions, one erotic and one sight- focused. In the first one the eye is almost forced behind the lens of the binoculars/ camera. The atmosphere recalls the cinematic mirage of the Aeolian Islands: their raw and coastal eroticism inspired the writings of a relevant page in the history of the 50’s Italian movie scene (cf. The War of the Volcanos – documentary film directed by F. Patierno that goes behind the scenes during the production of the Stromboli film and inside the existential struggle of the Magnani, Rossellini and Bergman love triangle).
The second dimension reveals the correlation between voyeur and exhibitionist that links the protagonists: at first solely portraying their point of view, the picture later widens up by embracing the whole scene in the moment when the masturbation in itself starts. The eye is set free in the final apotheosis, when everything goes back to the initial dimension, into an “outside” that now has no constrictions or limits.
The choice of not adding any background music during the sex act (something that you would expect in average soft porn and female porn) has the purpose of defining the audio as an element of proximity and realism: music usually accompanies us into a scene and out again in the final moment, but during the masturbation the auditory perception of the public becomes naked and exposed beyond the protagonist’s flesh.
Insight is the first short film produced by The Girls of Porn (www.leragazzedelporno.org), a collective of Italian filmmakers who aim to carry out a series of 10 art porn films, half way between eroticism and pornography, conveying the diversity of the feminine point of view on sexuality.
An experience that takes inspiration from the Dirty Daries of Mia Endeberg and that has been completely self-produced through a long campaign of funding and communication. Press and media have given great prominence to the revolutionary aim of the project: in Italy sex still creates scandal, even more so if it's women dealing with it.
In addition, a further difficulty is the gender gap that affects women directors in the Italian film industry.
Despite the great interest of a potential audience, no production company has taken up the challenge of financing this project. As a matter of fact, we have been able to develop it only thanks to the help of many enthusiastic micro lenders: Insight's budget was funded by a crowdfunding campaign and through the event “Art for Porn” (an auction realized with the works of art donated by artists, photographers and sculptors willing to support the production of the project's short films).
A substantial part of the costs has been guaranteed by a main sponsor, D-Vision, a video and film equipment service that provided us with high quality tools and machinery. Last but not least, the team of professionals who oversaw the technical realization of the movie worked at a low fee and thus shared the artistic value of the project in a tangible way.
We're always in touch with our audience and supporters through various events and a constant presence on social media.
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