Sexorcism

David-Jan Bronsgeest’s ‘Sexorcism’ is a horno (horror+porn) film that was made for Cineville. In a visually bizarre way the film is a metaphor for the trauma recovery of depressed porn stars.

“Let the darkness empower those we took for granted”

We chose a color palette and dissected it throughout the scene. For each setup we chose a different basic color. Because all these colors derive our main character, color was used to indicate that the nightmares and fears derive from the character herself.

We worked with an ancient principle (claire-obscure), but combined it with the use of modern day light sources. E.g., a fluorescent lamp above Chung's table or the led floor in combination with the glitter curtain. Here, too, you can see the fusion of old and new.

Moreover, we opted for filming with anamorphic lenses to create and alienating effect to the already bizarre things that are happening in front of the camera. It gives, as it were, a 'natural' filter on reality.

We deliberately chose to film on 35mm. This enhances the visibility of texture and gives an individuality to the plastic colors that are shown on stage. Also, it provided extra focus on set because everybody (both cast and crew) knows that every image counts.

We used 2 artworks as source:The Garden of Earthly Delights(Hieronymus Bosch) and the painting The Matchmaker(Gerard v Honthorst).We took these images as inspiration for characters and situations. E.g. on one of Bosch’s panels,the sirens are bathing in a lake with several men dancing around them like fools. We translated this into the dance floor where our main character Cleo gives her act the présence.The dancing fools are translated into Chung who,from behind his screen, is the spectator of the forbidden game.The claire-obscure in the painting from v.Honthorst was a big inspiration for our use of light.Because we wanted to make a timepiece,I suggested focusing specifically on Hentai porn:a pornographic form of the drawing style manga/anime.Using this as a starting point, the creative team created a Japanese dystopian world.Ultimately, the inspiration from these old sources in combination with the contemporary phenomenon (Hentai)provide a unique view on a contemporary social problem.

Film platform Cineville invited three directors to go all the way and direct their dream scene: “a scene they’ve always wanted to make, but would probably not get to execute anytime soon”. Director David-Jan Bronsgeest's wish was to make a cross-over between horror and an erotic film.

On a thematic level, David-Jan wanted to incorporate one main question: could you say that the devil invented pornography to make mankind bad?

On a sociological level, the aim was to give a voice to those who lend themselves to the enjoyment of others. What happens to them after a period of physical exploitation?

We wanted to create a world in which the aforementioned questions could be asked in an abstract matter, without making any concessions.

Jury Feedback

CRAFT - CINEMATOGRAPHY / BRONZE

A solid bronze for the visual research and the homage to the genre (we though of Dario Argento’s Suspiria and more recently The Neon Demon). Cinematography is the strongest side of the film and thought from art department, cast and wardrobe everything was designed to serve the photography.