Not a Love Story (1981): The Celluloid Dungeon

 Celluloid Dungeon  1 Response »
Apr 222025
 

Not a Love Story: A Film About Pornography is a 1981 Canadian documentary, directed by Bonnie Sherr Klein. It includes interviews with adult photographer Suze Randall, stripper Lindalee Tracey (aka “Fonda Peters”) and porn performer Marc Stevens. There are also interviews with and footage of second-wave feminist figures like Kate Millett, Robin Morgan, Margaret Atwood, Susan Griffin and more.

Obviously, a lot has happened in the 44 years since the film was released. In 1981, the home video revolution was just starting, almost no one had heard of AIDS, Times Square in Manhattan had porn theatres and live sex shows, and the Internet only connected a few universities and government agencies. Cruising came out the previous year, and the “lesbian sex wars” were just gearing up. However, the issues in this film are still very relevant, especially considering the neo-Puritan movements of the 2020s.

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Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist (1997): The Celluloid Dungeon

 Celluloid Dungeon  No Responses »
Mar 262025
 

Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist is a 1997 documentary by Kirby Dick about the titular Bob Flanagan, an artist with cystic fibrosis and, unusually, lived into his 40s. Flanagan combined his performance art and artworks with his BDSM practice, including being the slave of his mistress and wife, Sheree Rose.

(Most of the Celluloid Dungeon project is about fiction films, but I will explore a few documentaries along the way.)

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Bloodsisters (1995) lesbian BDSM documentary

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Oct 172020
 

The documentary Bloodsisters, covering the San Francisco leatherdyke community in 1995, is currently streaming online as part of NewFest, New York’s LGBTQ+ film & media festival. The streaming will last until October 27, 2020.

You can view the trailer and some supplemental interviews and other materials on Vimeo. There was an online discussion with the director, Michelle Handelman, and others in August 2020, available on Youtube.

NOTE: I attempted to view this stream in Canada and was refused. It may only be available for viewers in the USA.

Operation Spanner documentary: Lasting Marks

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Apr 182019
 

Lasting Marks is a short documentary on the infamous Operation Spanner case, in which gay men in 1980s Britain were arrested and tried for consensual sadomasochism. I should point out that the documentary is mostly scans of newspaper articles and legal documents, with a voiceover interview with one of the accused.

Divine Deviance videoshoot

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Oct 162018
 

Divine Deviance panel, 28 September 2018. L-R: Peter Tupper, Carol Queen, Gayle Rubin, Mufasa Ali, Dr. Robert Bienvenu, and Rostum Mesli.

One of the best things about subcultures is that it is possible to meet all of the major people involved in them. In the case of the micro-field of sadomasochism history studies, it’s possible to get the leading people sitting around a single table.

I was deeply honored to be sitting at the same table as the people whose work I had read and built on for many years: sexologist & Center for Sex & Culture ED Carol Queen, academic & activist Gayle Rubin, ONYX founder & Mr World Leather 2006-07 Mufasa Ali, anthropologist & historian Dr. Robert Bienvenu, and academic & author Rostum Mesli. The shoot was at the Catalyst playspace in San Francisco.

The shoot took about seven hours, including lunch breaks, but all of it was fascinating. A lot of the discussion revolved around what exactly BDSM was, and what wasn’t BDSM, and whether certain activities and cultures grouped together really had anything to do with each other. This also raised the question of, when we looked into the past to find antecedents of modern BDSM (whatever that is), do we find anything, or do we see something else that only superficially resembles modern BDSM but isn’t actually. A lot of my thinking on the subject was put to the test, in a dialog that refined everybody’s thoughts.

It was also just a pleasure hanging out with people who have lived through some of what I have been studying. Not only did I meet Carol Queen and Gayle Rubin, one of the producers was Race Bannon.

L-R: Carol Queen, Peter Tupper, and Race Bannon

My thanks to Race Bannon, Jörg Fockele and the other producers.  I look forward to further developments in the Divine Deviance documentary series. Donations would be greatly appreciated.

1980: KQED airs “S/M:One Foot out of the Closet”

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Jul 162016
 

SM One Foot Out Of The Closet 1980

For a while, I’ve seen references to a 1980 documentary about kinky people, aired on public television station KQED. Online searches turned up nothing, but I finally put in the effort to look up KQED and see if I could somehow get access to it, if only partially. After a few emails, they were kind enough to give me access to a stream of the 36-year-old documentary. I had to sign a fairly restrictive agreement, so I can’t share any of it.

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Dressing for Pleasure documentary on leather, rubber and latex fashion, including Atomage

 Celluloid Dungeon  No Responses »
Apr 152013
 

Pleasure from MARC CAMPBELL on Vimeo.

Despite Vimeo attributing it to Marc Campbell, IMDB lists it as Dressing for Pleasure (1977) directed by John Samson and Mike Wallington, about the 1970s UK leather/rubber/latex scene. Including interviews with John Sutcliffe of Atomage fame, and a clerk at McLaren-Westwood’s SEX shop.

I like the framing device of the models posing in and around a giant book printed, as if the people in the photos and illustrations of something like John Willie’s Bizarre or an Atomage catalogue magically came to life.

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