Some Documentary Films Relating to Pornography

The point of this list (and pretty much of each of these films) is not to celebrate or recommend pornography, but simply to explore an interesting and important subject in the modern social environment.

Some of the following films are rated X. Most are either Rated R or NC-17 or Unrated. These are all documentary (educational) films, they are not pornography. They do contain nudity. I've seen most of these, found them interesting, and recommend them to anyone interested in the subject, as long as you have an open mind. All are DVDs unless otherwise noted. In no particular order....


Thinking XXX
Director: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders / 2006 / 60 minutes
Amazon.com
A famous top-class photographer decides to make a book of photos of porn stars. 60 photos, 30 porn stars, 2 photos of each, same posture, one with clothes on, one with clothes off. This film documents the process of making the book. Lots of interesting commentary from various intellectuals such as Gore Vidal and John Waters, as well as interviews with the porn stars. Includes lots of men, some of whom work in gay porn.

Pornstar - The Legend of Ron Jeremy
Director: Scott J. Gill / 2002 / 76 minutes
Amazon.com
Ron is one of the most famous porn stars, though not particulary attractive. Very funny and entertaining look at his life in the business. (Note that there is a "censored" R-rated version of this DVD, as well as the unrated, uncut version).

Inside Deep Throat
Directors: Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato / 2005 / 90 minutes
Amazon.com
Explores the sociological phenomenon of the release of this early "classic" porn film in America in the 1970's. Lots of controversy. (Note that there is an R-rated version of this DVD, which is the censored version. The NC-17 is the uncensored one).

Pornography - The Secret History of Civilization
Directors: Fenton Bailey, Chris Rodley, Dev Varma, Kate Williams / 2006 / 312 minutes
Amazon.com
Six episodes, 5 hours, on 2 DVDs. Thorough history of pornography - the six episodes cover: the ruins of Pompei, the printing press, photography, film, video, and the Internet.

Rated X - A Journey Through Porn
Director: Dag Yngvesson / 2004 / 92 minutes
Amazon.com
Very interesting look at the business.

The Secret Lives of Adult Stars
Director: Doug Jacobson / 2004 / 84 minutes
Amazon.com
Lots of interviews with insiders.

Debbie Does Dallas Uncovered
Director: Francis Hanly / 2005 / 96 minutes
Amazon.com

The Girl Next Door
Director: Christine Fugate / 2000 / 82 minutes
Amazon.com
The story of Stacey Valentine.

Desperately Seeking Seka
Directors: Christian Hallman, Magnus Paulsson / 2004 / 52 minutes
Amazon.com
Rated X. (I have not yet seen this one)

WADD: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes
Director: Alan Smithee (Cass Paley) / 1998 / 105 minutes
Rated XXX. (The double-disc version of the Wonderland DVD includes a censored version of this film).

John Holmes: The Man, The Myth, The Legend
Director: / 2004 / Out of Print
There is a censored version and an uncensored version. (I have not yet seen this one)

Playboy's The Story of X
Subtitled: 100 Years of Adult Film and Its Stars
Director: Chuck Workman / 1998 / 82 minutes
Amazon.com

Sex Life in L.A.
Director: Jochen Hick / 1999 / 91 minutes
Amazon.com
A German documentary filmmaker looks at the gay porn industry in L.A. (have not seen). Unrated.

Sex/Life in L.A. 2: Cycles of Porn
Director: Jochen Hick / 2005 / 104 minutes
Amazon.com
A followup look at the gay porn industry, revisiting characters from the previous film. Lots of explicit gay sex acts. Unrated.

Exposed: The Making of a Legend
Director: Mr. Pam / 2005 / 97 minutes
Amazon.com
Details the making of the award-winning gay porn film Buckleroos. The director, Mr. Pam, is also the director of BuckleRoos. (have not seen). Unrated.

Shooting Porn
Director: Ronnie Larsen / 1997 / 70 minutes / VHS / Out of Print
Amazon.com

Hard Trip
Director: Alberto D'Ofrio / 2003 / 90 minutes
Amazon.com

Indie Sex
Director: Lesli Klainberg, Lisa Ades / 2007 / 199 minutes
Amazon.com
Like the 2 films below ( This Film is Not Yet Rated, and Sex at 24 Frames Per Second), this is not really about pornography, but explores the area just this side of the boundary. The first disc of this 2-DVD set contains 3 episodes of the Independent Film Channel's TV series, Indie Sex - Censored, Teens, and Extremes, each about an hour long. The second disc contains bonus features, including a shorter episode of Indie Sex titled Taboos. Excellent exploration of sex in cinema. You could watch this with a notebook and come away with a huge list of films to see. I enjoyed this a lot and recommend it. Unrated.

This Film is Not Yet Rated
Director: Kirby Dick / 2006 / 98 minutes
Amazon.com
An investigation into the NCAA movie ratings system. The ratings organization is so secretive that Kirby hires private investigators to find out just who these people are. (You can learn some fun spying tricks). Interviews with many censored filmmakers, such as John Waters. Many interesting ideas are explored. Including the crazy notion that you can have all the bloody violence you want in a movie (great for kids of all ages!) but we must all be protected from seeing any depiction of human sexuality.

Sex at 24 Frames Per Second
Director: Kevin Burns / 2002 / 98 minutes
Amazon.com
Explores the boundaries of sex in cinema from the beginning until today. There is an R-Rated version (Marilyn skirt blowing picture on cover) and and an unrated version (nude Marilyn on cover).

I Am A Sex Addict
Director: Caveh Zahedi / 2006 / 99 minutes
Amazon.com
If you saw Waking Life, Caveh has a segment where he talks about making films. This film is the story of his sex addiction. It is presented in a humorous way and I didn't realize how real it was until the part near the end where he is going to Sex Addicts Anonymous meetings and crying. Very interesting film. Took some guts to make.

Dancing for Dollars
Director: Paul Borghese / 2002 / 90 minutes
Amazon.com
This is a documentary about strippers in Canada. Not Rated.

Portraits of a Naked Lady Dancer
Director: / 2005 / 75 minutes
Amazon.com
Not rated. Have not seen.

Live Nude Girls Unite
Director: Julia Query, Vicki Funari / 2000 / 70 minutes
Amazon.com
have not seen.

Naked Feminist
Director: Louisa Achille / 2005 / 58 minutes
Cinemaguild.com
Hard to find - have not seen.

Sex Bomb
British Channel 4 TV Secret History Series
2004 / 49 minutes
The story of Sefton Delmer, "His Majesty's Pornographer". The Nazis used pornography as propaganda in WW2 and Great Britain fought back in kind. Might have to search the torrents for this one.

Pornucopia - Going Down in the Valley
HBO TV Series
Director: /2004 /6 30-minute episodes
OK - in spite of my comment at the top of this page, this one actually does totally celebrate porn. It is a fun, non-critical look at the industry, focussing on the San Fernando Valley in California. Features several porn stars, shows some shoots, talks with some directors.

American Porn
PBS / Frontline / WGBH
Director: Michael Kirk / 2001 / 60 minutes
www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/porn/
Explores legal, business, political, cultural issues. Page at PBS site above has interesting links section. Click on SHOP PBS to purchase DVD. "Edited" version or "unedited" verison can be watched online. DVD is unedited version. Have not seen.

Adult Entertainment - Disrobing an American Idol
Amazon.com
Official site: www.adultdocumentary.com
Director: Lance Tracy / 2007 /
The director says this is not a documentary about the porn industry and is not pro or anti porn. He says it is a documentary about the effects, if any, of explicit media and entertainment on consumers. NOTE - Amazon says this is a DVD-R, rather than a DVD.

Traffic Control - The People's War on Internet Porn
Purchase: www.cp80.org/trafficcontrol/buy/
Studio: www.livingbiography.com
The first of three films from Living Biography to cover the subject of Internet porn.

Porno Valley
2004 - TV Series - 1 Season - 13 20-minute episodes
Documentary series looks at Vivid porn stars.

Family Business
2003 - Showtime TV Series - 2 Seasons
Reality TV series by Seymour Butts. Have not seen.

Webdreams
2005 - Canadian TV Series
Looks at web porn industry. Have not seen.

Midnight Blue - Volume 1 - Deep Throat Special
Amazon.com
Midnight Blue - Volume 2 - Porn Stars of the 70's
Amazon.com
Midnight Blue - Volume 3 - Celebrities
Amazon.com
Midnight Blue - Volume 4 - Freaks and Geeks
Amazon.com
Midnight Blue - Volume 5 - Porn King
77 minute film about Al Goldstein. Amazon.com
Except for Volume 5, these DVDs are 2-hour compilations from the New York City cable TV show Midnight Blue, hosted by Al Goldstein and Alex Bennett.

And Some Related Non-Documentary Films

Rated X
Director: Emelio Estevex / 2000 / 114 minutes
Amazon.com
Starring Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen. The crazy story of the Mitchell brothers, pioneers of porn, who made early classic, Behind The Green Door. Rated R.

Kinsey
Director: Bill Condon / 2004 / 118 minutes
Amazon.com
The life of Alfred Kinsey, pioneering sex researcher. Rated R.

The Notorious Betty Page
Director: Mary Harron / 2006 / 90 minutes
Amazon.com
The story of Betty Page, starring Gretchen Mol. According to the director, meant to be as much about sex in the 50's as about Betty Page. Rated R.

The People vs. Larry Flint
Director: Milos Forman / 1996 / 129 minutes
Amazon.com
Larry Flint is the publisher of Hustler Magazine, who fought court battles against censorship. Starring Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, Edward Norton.


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This page revised 10/20/08. First posted 04/10/07