Erika Lust

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Erika Lust
Erika lust new.jpg
Born
Erika Hallqvist

1977 (age 43–44)
Stockholm, Sweden
EducationBA in Political Sciences, Lund University, 1999[1]
Occupation
  • Writer
  • director
  • producer
Years active2004–present

Erika Lust (born 1977) is a Swedish erotic film director, screenwriter and producer. Since the release of her debut indie erotic film The Good Girl in 2004, Lust has been instrumental in promoting the aims of the feminist pornography movement[2][3] through capturing the female gaze, and a dedication to female pleasure. Lust created Erika Lust Films whose company values towards an ethical production process set the company apart from mainstream pornography sites. She has played a key role in advocating the importance to pay for porn to ensure safe working conditions and fair pay for sex workers. She has written several books, as well as directed and produced a number of award-winning films.

Her film Cabaret Desire won her the Feminist Porn Award for Movie of the Year in 2012. It also won the CineKink Audience Choice Award for Best Narrative Feature. The first two compilations of her XConfessions series have won her the Feminist Porn Awards for Hottest Straight Vignette in 2014 and 2015 respectively. In 2015, a theatrical cut of XConfessions was screened at Chicago International Film Festival and at Raindance Film Festival in London.[4][5] Following that, Lust held two sold-out screenings of the XConfessions Theatrical Cut at Kino Babylon in Berlin in February 2016,[6][7] and went on to win the Best Narrative Short CineKink Award for short film An Appointment with My Master.[8]

Background[]

Lust was born Erika Hallqvist in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1977.[9] She harboured a passion for film and theatre.[10]

She went to Lund University, where she studied Political Sciences.[11][12] While there, she came across Linda Williams' 1989 book Hard Core: Power, Pleasure, and the "Frenzy of the Visible", which would influence her filmmaking later.[12] She graduated with a BA in 1999, with a specialization in human rights and feminism.[13] After graduation she moved to Barcelona in 2000 and started studying filmmaking.[11][12]

Career[]

Early successes[]

Lust shot her first film, the explicit short The Good Girl, in 2004. It was released for free on the internet and downloaded over 2 million times in the first month.[14] The film was shown at the Barcelona International Erotic Film Festival the next year and won her a Ninfa Award.[15]

In 2005, after this initial success, she founded her video production company Lust Films.[11] The company has produced erotic short films and compilations steadily from then on. Five Hot Stories For Her, an anthology of five vignettes including The Good Girl, won the Barcelona International Erotic Film Festival's 2007 Best Spanish Screenplay award,[16] the Venus Berlin Fair's 2007 Eroticline Award for Best Adult Film for Women,[17] and the 2008 Feminist Porn Award for Movie of the Year.[18] Since then she has been a regular on the adult cinema festival circuit, and in 2020 one of her films came to the cinema on a regular basis for the first time.[19]

Development[]

Interview Erika Lust in 2011 about Cabaret Desire

Lust's films are characterized by carefully cast actors and high standards of production in adult film. Lust believes explicit film can be an educational tool besides being pleasurable and can help us better understand our sexuality, to live more freely and naturally. She hopes to influence viewers' conceptions of gender roles in sexuality.[20] She considers pornography to be the "most important discourse on gender and sexuality".[11]

In 2010, Lust opened an online erotic cinema called Lust Cinema, exhibiting her own films and those of other authors of the new wave of explicit films.[11] She started the first crowdsourced project in the history of adult cinema in 2013, calling it XConfessions.[11] It has become her main source of work in the years thereafter.[7] She has also written several books on eroticism and sexuality;[21] her first book Good Porn was published in 2009 by Seal Press.[22] Lust runs an online store offering her books and films, as well as sex toys and other erotic wares.[23] In February 2016, her company had about 15 employees.[7]

In 2019 Erika was named as one of the BBC's 100 Most Influential Women of the Year.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world in early 2020 and societies went into lockdown, Lust proclaimed May "Masturbation Month", encouraging people to safely stay at home and enjoy themselves with special offerings, announcing on 30 April 2020 on Instagram: 'I've created a one-month calendar full of free sex ed guides, video tutorials, articles and music & film recommendations to keep you busy. Also, stay tuned - this month there will be @xconfessions and @lust.cinema giveaways and surprises to help make your solo sex sessions more interesting.⁠'[23]

XConfessions[]

Lust and other directors are currently producing short pornographic films based on crowd-sourced stories.[24] Viewers can leave anonymous confessions on the project's website. Each month, Lust handpicks two stories and turn them into cinematic short films.[25][7]

XConfessions has been presented at the Berlin Porn Festival 2014.[26][27] In 2015, a theatrical cut of XConfessions was screened along with a talk by Lust at the Raindance Film Festival in London and at the Chicago International Film Festival.[28][29] In February 2016, Lust held two sold-out screenings of the XConfessions Theatrical Cut at Babylon in Berlin,[6][7] and won Best Narrative Short at the CineKink Awards New York for BDSM short film An Appointment with My Master.[8]

Selected filmography[]

Feature films[]

  • 2008: Barcelona Sex Project
  • 2010: Life Love Lust
  • 2011: Cabaret Desire
  • 2019: The Intern-A Summer of Lust

Compilations of shorts[]

  • 2007: Five Hot Stories For Her incl. Something about Nadia
  • 2013: XConfessions vol. 1
  • 2014: XConfessions vol. 2 incl. The Art of Spanking
  • 2014: XConfessions vol. 3
  • 2015: XConfessions vol. 4
  • 2015: XConfessions vol. 5 incl. An Appointment with my Master
  • 2016: XConfessions vol. 6
  • 2016: XConfessions vol. 7
  • 2016: XConfessions vol. 8
  • 2017: XConfessions vol. 9
  • 2017: XConfessions vol. 10
  • 2017: XConfessions vol. 11
  • 2017: XConfessions vol. 12
  • 2018: XConfessions vol. 13
  • 2018: XConfessions vol. 14
  • 2018: XConfessions vol. 15
  • 2018: XConfessions vol. 16
  • 2019: XConfessions vol. 17
  • 2019: XConfessions vol. 18
  • 2019: XConfessions vol. 19
  • 2019: XConfessions vol. 20
  • 2020: XConfessions vol. 21
  • 2020: XConfessions vol. 22
  • 2020: XConfessions vol. 23
  • 2020: XConfessions vol. 24
  • 2020: XConfessions vol. 25

Short films[]

  • 2004: The Good Girl
  • 2009: Handcuffs
  • 2010: Love Me Like You Hate Me (made with Venus O'Hara)
  • 2011: Room 33 (sequel to Handcuffs)

Feature films[]

  • 2019: The Intern on Lust Cinema

Series[]

  • 2020: Safe Word on Lust Cinema

Books[]

2013 interview about Lust's books
  • 2009: X: a Woman's Guide to Good Porn (alternate title: Good Porn: A Woman's Guide)
  • 2010: Erotic Bible to Europe
  • 2010: Love Me Like You Hate Me with Venus O'Hara
  • 2011: Shooting Sex: How to Make an Outstanding Sex Movie with Your Partner (ebook also available in Polish)[30]
  • 2011: Six Female Voices with Antia Pagant
  • 2013: La Canción de Nora (Nora's Song)
  • 2013: Let's Make a Porno

Honours and awards[]

Year Sponsoring Organisation Award Category Entry Result
2005 Barcelona Intl Erotic Film Festival Ninfa Award First Prize for Short X-Films The Good Girl Won[31]
2007 Barcelona Intl Erotic Film Festival Ninfa Award Best Screenplay Five Hot Stories for Her Won[32]
Venus Fair Berlin Eroticline Award Best Adult Film for Women Won[33]
2008 Good for Her Toronto Feminist Porn Award Movie of the Year Won[34]
Cinekink New York Cinekink Award Best Short Something about Nadia Honorable Mention
Venus Fair Berlin Eroticline Award Best Erotic Documentary Barcelona Sex Project Won[35]
2009 Good for Her Toronto Feminist Porn Award Movie of the Year Honorable Mention
2010 Cinekink New York Cinekink Award Best Experimental Short Film Handcuffs Won[36]
Good for Her Toronto Feminist Porn Award Sexiest Short Film Won[37]
2011 Good for Her Toronto Feminist Porn Award Movie of the Year Life Love Lust Won[38]
Cinekink New York Cinekink Award Best Short Room 33 Honorable Mention
Orgazmik Zürich Orgazmik Award Best Film (Couples) Cabaret Desire Won[39]
2012 Good for Her Toronto Feminist Porn Award Movie of the Year Won[40]
Cinekink New York Cinekink Audience Choice Award Best Narrative Feature Won[36]
Cupido Norway Cupido Filmpris Handcuffs Won[41]
2014 Good for Her Toronto Feminist Porn Award Hottest Straight Vignette Series XConfessions vol. 1 Won[42]
Fetisch Film Festival Germany Fetisch Award Best Feature-Length Won[43]
2015 Good for Her Toronto Feminist Porn Award The Art of Spanking Nominated[44]
Hottest Straight Vignette XConfessions vol. 2 Won[45]
Website xconfessions.com Honorable Mention[46]
2016 Cinekink New York Cinekink Award Best Narrative Short An Appointment with my Master Won
2017 Fish&Chips Film Festival, Turin Best Short Movie XXX Pouring Pleasure Won
2018 Festival Internacional de Cine de Guadalajara, Mexico Maguey Over the Rainbow Award Maguey award Erika Lust Won
Festival Internacional de Cine de Puerto Vallarta Erika Lust Won
Toronto International Porn Festival Feminist Porn Award Most Tantalizing Trans Short We Are The Fucking World Won
Toronto International Porn Festival Sexiest Sci-Fi Touch Crimes Won
Toronto International Porn Festival Dazzling: Docu-Porn Tie Me Up! A Shibari Documentary Won
Toronto International Porn Festival Moist Won
Toronto International Porn Festival Best Kink Short Dirty Feet Won
2019 Peephole Film Festival, Mexico Best Erotic Short Film Don't Call Me a Dick Won
2020 Cinekink New York Audience Choice Award Best Narrative Feature Volunteers Wanted Won
Cinekink New York Best Dramatic Short The MILF Next Door Won
La Fete du Slip Lausanne Slip d'Or Short Film Switch Won
XBiz Awards (Europe) Best Acting Lena Anderson, "The Intern" (Lust Cinema) Won
XBiz Awards (Europe) Best Sex Scene-Lesbian Estella Bathory, Luna Corazon & Natassia Dreams, "Super Femmes" (XConfessions) Won

Notable screenings[]

Year Festival Submission
2009 Rated X Amsterdam Barcelona Sex Project
Circuito Off Film Festival Venice Handcuffs
2012 Erotikos Film Festival Jamaica Cabaret Desire
2014 Berlin Porn Film Festival XConfessions vol. 1
Self Serve's Pornotopia Festival New Mexico[47]
Film Festival of Gender Mexico XConfessions vol. 2
Only Porn Lyon XConfessions
2015 La Fête du Slip Switzerland
Cinekink New York The Art of Spanking
Raindance Film Festival London XConfessions
Chicago International Film Festival XConfessions
2016 Babylon Berlin Premiere XConfessions Theatrical Cut
2017 Berlin Film Society XConfessions Theatrical Cut
2018 XConfessions x Berlin Film Society, Los Angeles XConfessions Theatrical Cut
2019 The Face launch, New York XConfessions Theatrical Cut

References[]

  1. ^ "It's time for porn to change l Erika Lust l TEDxVienna". Youtube. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  2. ^ Alilunas, Peter (10 April 2014). "The necessary future of adult media industries". Creative Industries Journal. 7 (1): 62–66. doi:10.1080/17510694.2014.892287. S2CID 153769124.
  3. ^ ""Porno muss nicht ausbeuterisch sein" – Erika Lust über faire Produktionsbedingungen". Arte Tracks (in German). Arte. 8 February 2019. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  4. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^ "Erika Lust:XConfessions". Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Nadja Sayej (8 March 2016). "A Woman's Fight to Prove Porn Can Be Feminist". Newsweek. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Virginie Sélavy (6 February 2016). "XConfessions: interview with Erika Lust". Electric Sheep Magazine. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b "awards". CineKink.com. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  9. ^ bobe.barsi (18 May 2012). "Porn director Erika Lust: 'I Felt Uncomfortable Like All Women When They're Watching Porn'". Café Babel. Archived from the original on 15 May 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
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  15. ^ "Därför blev svenska feministen Erika Lust porrfilmsregissör". Dagens Nyheter (in Northern Sami). 16 December 2017. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
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  22. ^ Lust, Erika. "Groundbreaking Books. By Women. For Women". Seal Press. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  23. ^ Jump up to: a b Erika Lust (18 May 2020). "Erika Lust on her favourite sex toys and how to use them". Dazed. Dazed Media. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  24. ^ Erdmann, Nicola (17 December 2014). "Ich will eine andere Art Erwachsenenfilm machen, Die Welt, Nicola Erdmann". Die Welt.
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  27. ^ "Pourquoi je continue à regarder du porno". Libération. 15 December 2014.
  28. ^ "A Conversation with Erika Lust". Chicago International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015.
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  30. ^ "Jak nakręcić porno. Praktyczny poradnik filmowania seksu". Kinky Winky. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
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  32. ^ "The FICEB Ninfa, Tacón de Aguja and HeatGay Awards". Archived from the original on 11 October 2007.
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  35. ^ "Die Gewinner des eLine Award 2008". German-adult-news.com. 17 October 2008. Archived from the original on 2 October 2011. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
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  39. ^ "Orgazmik Award 11". Orgazmik. Archived from the original on 22 March 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
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  41. ^ "Erika Lusts "Handcuffs" vant Cupido Filmpris 2012". Cupido. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  42. ^ "XConfessions". Feminist Porn Awards. 15 October 2014. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  43. ^ "7. Fetisch Film Festival in Kiel". TraumGmbH. Archived from the original on 11 August 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  44. ^ "The Art of Spanking". Feminist Porn Awards. 20 March 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
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  46. ^ "xconfessions.com". Feminist Porn Awards. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  47. ^ "Program". Pornotopia. Self Serve Sexuality Resource Center. Archived from the original on 20 May 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2015.

External links[]

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