LOS ANGELES – At a time when the mainstream press is often abuzz with reports about “feminist porn” and “porn for women,” two women who are true pioneers in alt erotica are bringing their latest work to Los Angeles for a screening.
Over the past decade, adult filmed star and performance artist Annie Sprinkle has been working with her partner, Beth Stephens, to establish and grow the “ecosex movement” through various multi-media art and educational projects.
The pair’s latest work is a documentary film called Water Makes Us Wet – An Ecosexual Adventure. On Monday, September 24 at 7:30p.m., Sprinkle and Stephens are screening the film at Ahrya Fine Arts Theater in Beverly Hills. They will be joined by some of the film’s cast and crew, conducting a question and answer session as well as “giving out free swag and schmoozing with the audience,” as a press release from the filmmakers puts it.
The new documentary is part of the directors’ goal to “make the environmental movement more sexy, fun and diverse, and to entice people to love to our Earth more, and humans are part of the Earth.”
“Absolutely everyone is invited,” Sprinkle said. “If you love water, you will enjoy this film.”
In describing the documentary, Stephens said the film “explores the pleasures, profits and politics of H2O while we are on an exciting road trip with our dog Butch.”
Water Makes Us Wet made its debut earlier this summer at the documenta 14, where the filmmakers said it “got a great reception” – something Sprinkle and Stephens hope will be repeated at its L.A. screening.
“We actually almost got killed making this film, but we managed to document the drama, and then water helped save us,” Stephens said.
Over the course of the road trip recounted in the film, Sprinkle and Stephens interact with a broad range of people, including water treatment plant workers, biologists, performance artists, family members and sex workers, among others. According to the statement announcing the L.A. screening, the documentary “climaxes in a shocking event that reaffirms the power of water, life and love.”
“In one scene the artist couple officially added the ‘E’ (for ecosexual,) to the GLBTQI-E moniker with a ribbon cutting ceremony in the San Francisco Pride parade,” the release adds.
So, what is “ecosex”?
“Ecosex shifts the metaphor from Earth as mother, to Earth as lover, in order to help create a more reciprocal, sensual, empathetic relationship with the natural world,” the artists explained in their statement.
At the L.A. screening, joining Stephens, Sprinkle and members of the film’s crew will be the documentary’s director of photography Keith Wilson and music supervisor David B. Steinberg, as well as a “stellar audience” which will include “some porn stars, scholars, and a few Hollywood celebrities,” according to the announcement issued Tuesday.
The Ahrya Fine Arts Theater is located at 8556 Wilshire Blvd in Beverly Hills. Tickets are available from the theater and range in price from $12 to $15. The screening will begin a 7:30 p.m. On Monday, September 24.
