Over at Amazon, Daniel Rapheal gave a really really nice review to Ashley and Kisha:

A Tender and Candid Romance

This is a DVD that I wish everyone would see. Even the most repressed and biased people would derive some benefit from seeing this. The sweetness between these two young women is right there to see–and the fact that this is presented with their sexual feelings for each other, makes this a very constructive and hopeful presentation. The story of how they met and fell for each other is so similar to so many other stories–regardless of sexual orientation–that it is easy to relate to. It helps that, while they look nice, neither of these women is a stereotype of beauty. The greater part of their appeal is the emotional intelligence and genuineness of their mutual affection and attraction. It’s a good sign that a real-life story like this is widely available, because that in itself means there is reason to expect that ignorance and intolerance will be accordingly diminished.

There’s a special sort of poignancy reading this review today, because today I also read Ms. Naughty’s reaction to her first viewing of 9 Songs. There’’s not much I can add to Ms. Naughty’s reaction. 9 Songs got an X-rating from the OFLC (no public screenings, no festival screenings, highly restricted DVD sales) and through an expensive appeals process was able to get that reduced to an R-rating (the Australian equivelent of the MPAA’s NC-17 rating.) Apparently one of the reasons the OFLC saw fit to reduce the rating for 9 Songs from X to R was that they thought the people who were likely to see 9 Songs would be intellectually equipped to understand Winterbottom’s use of sexually explicit imagery.

A few years later Ashley and Kisha was banned from the Melbourne Underground Film Festival on the grounds that if it were to be classified by the OFLC it would likely receive an X-rating. How did the OFLC make this determination? By looking at the X-ratings it gave to my previous films Marie and Jack, Xana and Dax, and most notoriously Damon and Hunter, which was chased out of the queerDOC, the Sydney International Gay and Lesbian Documentary Film Festival with threats of fines and imprisonment made at the festival director.

Had Ashley and Kisha been submitted by a different festival (the Australian Center for the Moving Image) or by a different director (Michael Winterbottom or John Cameron Mitchell, or perhaps even Shine Louise Houston)  or if I had a better class of friends in Australia (Margaret Pomerance or Alison Croggon for example) the result might have been different.

Of perhaps if I had used the usual ploys – “It’s educational don’t you know, and besides, it’s not porn, it wasn’t made with the intent do arouse. Nobody got an erection…” – well anyway too late for that. I was silly enough to think my films would speak for themselves. Now I know better.

I am exploring the whys and where-fors of all of this at TheIntentToArouse.Com and will be giving a lecture of the same name at NYU in about two month’s time.

None the less, I am extremely grateful to Daniel Rapheal and the hundreds of other people who have told me how much they have enjoyed our film, and to the thousand and thousands of people who have bought our DVDs. 

Reviews like Daniel’s let me know that while I might have been stupid to go about marketing my films the way I did, I wasn’t crazy in making them the way I did. There’s more than a little comfort in knowing that.

News and Notes for June 4

I had a great time at the encore screening of ASHLEY AND KISHA at the New York LGBT center on May 22. Also on the bill was  Aimee Herman, who gave a great reading of selected works. I picked up a copy of Self Diagnosed Lactose Intolerance, which she was nice enough to sign for me. It now resides on the table next to our bed.

After years of trying, when I failed to make contact with Em & Lo during the big push for MATT AND KHYM, I gave up trying. But then this morning a surprising URL in our inbound links. I guess if you keep at it long enough, people will come to you.

As noted in my previous, CameraPlayForCouples.com is up an running, and the response so far is exactly what I hoped for. In someways I think private cameraplay is as good or perhaps even a better venue for examining our cultures values around sex, shame, photography, intimacy, privacy, consent; and how the confused messages we receive can inhibit our finding our way to nourishing, wholesome sexual relationships. If you like the thinkier posts here, I think you’ll like yesterday’s Consent, Context, and Clutter.

Search returns on Microsoft’s new Bing search engine are a lot friendlier to Comstock Films than the same searches on Google, which are overrun with torrent sites and out-of-date republished versions of our old podcast feed. Has Bing cracked the spam problem that Google couldn’t or wouldn’t? Time will tell.

Just like Google, [Clitoris] is not a “safe” word on Bing. But unlike Google, [penis] is not safe on Bing either. I’m not sure that’s progress, but at least it’s equitable, and the ergonomics of the “not safe” warning on Bing make the reasons for zero returns more clear. While Google gives a greyed out bit easy to miss of text, Bing offers a hard to miss chunk of copy that includes a link to change your search settings. Unfortunately, filter settings are not carried in the URL, so you’ll have go play with Bing to see this for yourself, but a provisional thumbs up for Bing on this one.

 From “ASHLEY AND KISHA: FINDING THE RIGHT FIT”

I’ve probably spent too much time worrying about, and too many posts writing about the ongoing “taming of the internet”, the transformation from a wild-west, all-comers good, bad and ugly frontier to a civilized and “safe” place, and whether or not we’ll be able to make a place for ourselves and our films in The New Searchable Era ™ .

Today a reminder that even if algorithms and meta data and academics and film festivals and censorship boards can’t understand what these films are about, the people who actually pay our bills do. From A. Hammonds’ Amazon review posted yesterday:

There are NO words…

“I’m a 23 year-old lesbian, just recently coming to terms with my sexuality. Months ago, I began browsing for DVDs related to the LGBT community. I was over fake, trashy porno a looong time ago, and for once just wanted something REAL. Well with Ashley & Kisha I got it…plus MORE!! I mean my God, I was brought to tears the first time I viewed it!! THIS IS WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT…IT’S ABOUT TIME!! Ashley & Kisha are what REAL Love is about. Their chemistry and vibe is amazing!! I gave my heterosexual friend a copy and she was blown away at the intimacy (not even sex wise) and just “how deep the rabbit hole goes”. I spent hours answering a whole bunch of questions and I’m glad that she can now look at same-sex relationships for what they really are…TRUE LOVE!!”

Of course because I’m a big mush, reading this review pretty much did me in – eyes brimming with tears, lower lip quivering, the whole nine yards. When I started making these films my hope was that I’d make something that might touch somebody the way that ASHLEY AND KISHA has touched Ms. Hammonds. But you know how it is, when you actually get what you want sometimes you just don’t know what to do with yourself except cry.

How and if we’ll  be able to keep reaching people like A. Hammonds I don’t know. Last month’s “AmazonFail” meta data fuck up is coincident with the worst month of sales we’ve ever had on Amazon – a 40% drop from the previous month; and this month is off to an equally slow start. My suspicion (fear!) is that whatever marketing suppression of sexually oriented titles and merchandise (not showing a Doc Johnson dildo to a person looking for Johnson & Johnson Baby shampoo etc.) that Amazon was trying to get with the Amazon Fail screw-up has been achieved, and that (once again) our films are collateral damage in the endless quest to keep the internet “safe”.

But it’s not over yet. Just like we’ve survived a 70% drop Google-search related revenue, we can take a drop in our Amazon sales, at least for a while; and we’ve still got a few tricks up our sleeve. I still think there are a lot of people like Ms. Hammonds out there, people who would really like to see our films, but don’t even know we exist. And I’ve still got a few more ideas on how we can reach them.

“Ashley and Kisha: Finding the Right Fit” to play at the New York City LGBT Community Center

Where: NYC LGBT Community Center, 208 W.13th, New York, NY, 10011
When: January 23, Reception at 6:30PM, Screening at 7:30PM
Cost: $8 in advance, $10 at the door
Additional Information: http://www.gaycenter.org/node/2774

Lesbian Cinema Arts will present a one night only screening of “Ashley and Kisha: Finding the Right Fit”, Friday evening, January 23, at the New York City LGBT Community Center.

“American filmmaker and sex on screen pioneer Tony Comstock may have invented the best little documentary formula ever: take a couple who are in a committed, loving relationship, and film them in conversation about it, and also the physical conversation they have with each other during sex. What could be more illuminating, educational, erotic, instructive, profound, fascinating, – take your pick. Ashley & Kisha is one of the sweetest love stories you’re ever likely to see committed to film. Tony Comstock has once again put his perfect documentary formula to good use - true love and real sex - on screen; what’s not to like?!” –– Megan Spencer, Film Critic

“Ashley and Kisha” is the fifth in director Tony Comstock’s award-winning “Real People, Real Life, Real Sex” documentary series. Comstock’s approach to sex, cinema, and love is both disarmingly charming, winning over audiences where ever his films play, and surprisingly controversial, drawing the ire of censors who seem to be mesmerized by the glistening body parts, while remaining stubbornly resistant to the films’ overarching theme of the nourishing power and beauty of sexual love.

“Ashley and Kisha” was to have had its world premiere at the 2007 Melbourne Underground Film Festival, in Melbourne Australia, but the screening was cancelled when the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification refused to grant MUFF a festival exemption, and ordered police dispatched to the festival to prevent the film from being shown. A private screening for festival judges resulted in “Ashley and Kisha” being named Best Foreign Film, and Tony Comstock being named Best Foreign Director.

After the Australian controversy, “Ashley and Kisha” finally had it’s world premiere at the 2007 Long Beach International LGBT Film Festival in Long Beach, CA, where the film was enthusiastically received by an overflow crowd. From there it travelled to the 2007 Out on Film Atlanta LGBT Film Festival where it again played to a full house. Most recently “Ashley and Kisha” played as a double feature with “Damon and Hunter: Doing it Together” at the 2008 Tel Aviv International LGBT Film Festival, but this New York date marks the first time director Tony Comstock will be present for a screening.

“Each time this film has played, and each time I heard how much people enjoyed it, it’s broken my heart a little bit that I couldn’t be there, ” says Comstock. “I’m thrilled that “Ashley and Kisha” is finally coming to my home town, and I wouldn’t miss it for anything!”

–

Audience Enthusiasm for “Ashley and Kisha”:

“I first read about this movie in my local gay and lesbian newspaper. I was trully impressed once I finally saw the actual movie. It’s beautiful, touching and real. The two ladies were very real and open to a fault. I thought the love scene was erotic and you could feel the love the couple shared. My hats off to the producers.” — S.G. Staten Island

“This certainly isn’t for anyone shy about physical affection, or for people put off by affection between women. Although lovely and erotic, it isn’t really about sex, either. It’s about what bonds couples together. Even I, as a straight male, could see echoes of my own relationship in theirs. I’m grateful to these two charming women for sharing their closeness. ” — WiredWeird, Amazon.com Top 100 Reviewer

“These two women are in love and it shows…the sex scene is passionate and real, and the interview segment with them is a joy to watch.” — A.H. NYC

“This movie is so adorable. I’ve had it for about 4 weeks and I just can’t stop watching it. I’m pretty good about controlling my emotions but I have to admit the first time I watched it the tears started flowing. Their love for one another seems so genuine. I thought it was going to be just another one of those fake porns but it was a true love story. This movie is a must see!” — D. Moulden-Kamau, Maryland

“It’s a film about the ache of longing to be with someone very particular, the exquisite tension of the chase, the thrill of seduction, and the disarming sweetness of romance. It’s a film about losing your heart, falling in love and in lust, and the joyous belly swooping pleasure of finding the right fit with someone who loves and desires you for who and what you are.” — L.C. Melbourne, Australia

—

Tony Comstock has been a filmmaker for more than 15 years; produced films on three continents; screened and won awards on four. Topics addressed in his films have included: faith, human rights, disaster relief, and social justice. Most recently he has devoted his energy an to ongoing documentary series subtitled “Real people, Real life, Real sex.” The series addressses issues of sexuality, sexual imagery, censorship, alternative distribution and promotion, and love.

The reception for these films has ranged from winning awards at international film festivals (US, Canada, Australia, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Israel) and inclusion in the teaching materials at public health organizations (Kinsey Institute, Planned Parenthood, GMHC, SFSI) to seizure by customs authorities (Germany) and having police sent to theaters to prevent their screenings (Australia).

His latest film “Bill and Desiree: Love is Timeless” (2008) celebrates erotic love in the second half of life, and will have its US Premiere in at the Martha Stewart Center for Living at the Mt. Sinai Medical Center in a special screening for faculty and clinicians.

Okay, I’m not actually going to be in Tel Aviv, but tomorrow night both DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER and ASHLEY AND KISHA: FINDING THE RIGHT FITare going to be playing in the Tel Aviv International LGBT Film Festival! Here’s the info:

Tel-Aviv Cinematheque, TLVFEST – Israel International LGBT Film FestivalYair Hochner2 Sprinzak StTel Aviv 64738 Israel
3:00 AM, theater L for ASHLEY AND KISHA3:15 AM, theater G for DAMON AND HUNTER

I don’t know why these films haven’t had more success in the US LGBT Festival circuit, no Reeling, no Frameline, no Philidelphia, none of the big gay and lesbian film fests. The whole film fest thing is a bit of a crap shoot, and after our submission blitz for ASHLEY AND KISHA, I decided that reaching for the film fest brass ring wasn’t the best place to put our money and energy.

Don’t get me wrong. We are thrilled thrilled thrilled when our films get a chance to play in a theater! And we’d never turn down a chance to be in a festival. But we’ve completely given up on the idea that first you do the film fests, then theatrical, the DVD. Both DAMON AND HUNTER and ASHLEY AND KISHA went out to the people first, then on to the film festival circuit. (We put the festival laurels on the second or third pressing.)

This is a contrariun marketing strategy, but it’s worked for us. Our DVD sales are on par with some of the most recognized documentaries of the last couple years. I think one of reason for this is that we don’t cannibalize our DVD sales with endless low or no paying festival appearances or a money-losing theatrical run. Apparently we’re not alone. From a recent Business Week article:

OPTING OUT OF THE FESTIVAL CIRCUIT
But like musicians who shun record labels (BusinessWeek.com, 10/10/07) to sell their music themselves, anecdotal evidence suggests documentary filmmakers—already an entrepreneurial bunch—are foregoing the conventional path of shopping their films to a distributor. They’re skipping such deals and using the Internet to get their stories in front of people who want to hear them.

But while DVD sales might be the financial backbone of Comstock Films, I still think there’s something special about seeing a film in a theater. I still think there’s something magical about the power of a film to turn a group of strangers, sitting in the dark, into an audience. And I because we’re inculcated in the notion that sex is a private, shameful act, I think that’s something wonderful and unexpected when that happens with one of our films.

So meet me in Tel Aviv, meet me there tomorrow night! If not in person, then in spirit!

Less than a year after its release, the first run of ASHLEY AND KISHA has sold out, the film has found its way into five film festivals on four continents, and received positive reviews in some of the world’s leading lesbian publications. It even made Violet Blue’s “Best of 2007″ list. I am, to put it mildly, thrilled!

There were moments when I wondered what the reaction would be to me — a middle-aged white guy –offering up a film about two young black women in love (“Am I a Punany Poet?” 4/23/05). Would I be regarded as an interloper? An intruder? An exploiter? That would have broke my heart.

But that didn’t happen. Over and over again people said, “Thank you, Tony. Thank you for making this beautiful film.” That breaks my heart too, but in the very best way! It also brings me back to something I wrote in that post over three years ago:

I am encouraged by this feedback. In the past few years, sexually explicit material has fractured into an ever-increasing number of what the industry (mis)labels “fetishes”. There are segregations by sex act, by race, by age. There are videos that show nothing but young white women getting fucked in the ass by black men, or videos that show nothing but asian women having sex with each other.

I don’t suppose there’s anything wrong with people wanting to see what they want to see (a photo I saw at an early age of Sophia Loren has left me easy prey for the word “Latina”) but as this fractured view of sexuality more and more defines pornography, it seems to imply that the way to reach the audience for graphic sex is by focusing on the most objective, quantifiable elements. I don’t think this is so. I think there ways to depict sex that can transcend race, gender, or sexuality, and Jessica, Linda, JAG and the others are helping to sustain me in my belief that by focusing on the subjective aspects of the sexual experience, I can reach across boundaries of race, or gender, or sexual taste.

Of course differences still matter – Jessica is a African-American woman, raised in the South by old church-going lady who “still had cotton under her fingernails.” I’m second-generation Irish and Jewish, raised in the white, middle-class suburbs of the West Coast – but those aren’t the only things that matter, and they’re not always the thing that matters the most. You don’t have to be African-American to be inspired by the story of the Tuskegee Airmen; you don’t have to be Jewish to feel the horror of The Holocaust; you don’t have to be young, black, or a lesbian to know when you’re watching Kisha ride Ashley’s face, you’re seeing something that’s as right as rain.

Three years later, I am happy to report that nothing that has happened to change my mind. Three years later, ASHLEY AND KISHA not only reached across boundaries of race, gender and sexual orientation, it’s also challenged the very way that sexuality can and should be depicted in cinema. It’s asked the question, “You tell me why not?” and then answered that question with defiant beauty, radiant joy, and abundant love.

 This is why I make these films. My deepest gratitude to everyone who has helped me keep making them!

One of those days. Actually one of those weeks. Plenty to be thankful for, but also plenty of businessy bullshit that can leave a person wondering, “Tell me again. Why am I doing this?”

Then my answer:

My girlfriend and I have just seen your beautiful film about Ashley and Kisha, and we just had to tell you that we loved it. The love-scene at the end was incredibly real and beautiful, and we both had tears in our eyes afterwards.

Thank you!

Lots of love from Sxx & Cxxxxx

No, thank you! Thanks to you I’m going into the weekend with a lump in my throat and a smile on my face!

Got a twitter yesterday from Essin Em.  A month ago Eden Fantasy picked up our series, and now Essin Em has named ASHLEY AND KISHA to her top 10 favorite things at Eden Fantasy. Yay! (A&K is #7, starting at about 5:15)

One thing. I can’t actually find ASHLEY AND KISHA, or any of our other films on the Eden Fantasy website. No wonder they haven’t made a re-order!

Scratch that! They’re right here. Don’t know what was wrong with me this morning. Need more coffee I guess!

Two Queer Girls in Love
CURVE MAGAZINE, June 2008

Two women smile shyly into the camera. They are young. They are black. They sit entwined as only lovers do, talking about sex and being black. Then the camera cuts to them having sex.

Ashley and Kisha: Finding the Right Fit is a documentary showcasing the love story of a lesbian couple.

So how does a sweet little movie about tender young love spark a fist-pumping, civil rights-questioning brawl? By getting banned from the Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF).

In Australia, for a film to be sold it has to be “classified,” or given a rating, by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC). And if a movie is classified as “X,” it can’t be sold. Many film festivals will request exemptions for the films they show because the classification process is long and expensive.

At this year’s MUFF, festival director Richard Wolstencroft applied for an exemption for Ashley and Kisha. The OFLC denied the request without seeing the film, based on the director Tony Comstock’s previous explicit documentaries that depict real couples having real sex.

Comstock says that the denial may not have been a reaction to the explicit content of the film, but retribution. In 2006, Wolstencroft went against the orders of the OFLC and screened one of Comstock’s movies. So this year, the OFLC forbade Wolstencroft from showing seven movies, and even sent police to ensure that Ashley and Kisha wasn’t screened.

Comstock maintains that the movie is only controversial because it’s about lesbians. “If you’re a realist you’re saying, ‘Of course it’s controversial,’ and if you’re an idealist you’re saying, ‘What’s controversial about people being in love?’”

Comstock has many reasons for taking up arms against the OFLC.

First, there are his subjects and his product. “There’s a sense of responsibility and of trust … I haven’t had to fight for my sexuality, I fight for my movies.” Second, he thinks of himself as fighting the latest battle against censorship and the moral majority. “This is the last little gasp of a dying way of thinking about the world.”

But most importantly, he sees the ban as an affront to human rights. “It’s not Iran, or Saudi Arabia, or Malaysia. It’s not one of these places with oppressive regimes. It’s Australia, for Christ’s sake … It’s a freedom issue. Freedom is not liberal or conservative. Totalitarians don’t care about freedom. It’s exciting that this little film is provoking some discussion about these big ideas.”

And it is. In light of the controversy, an ad hoc community of the Australian body politic has come together to support a lesbian film. From the LGBT community to the Institute of Public Affairs (a free-market think tank), people have all come together to protest the ban. This delights Comstock. “Black, white, gay, straight–the people who like our stuff like our stuff. You’re getting to something transcendent about the nature of love and sex and gender.”

What can I say? I was just over at TinyNibbles.com and saw that Violet has named ASHLEY AND KISHA: FINDING THE RIGHT FIT to her Top Five of 2007 list! Also on the list:

Triple Ecstasy, dir. Kimberly Kane
Debbie Loves Dallas, dir. Eon McKai
Tristan Taormino’s Chemistry #3, dir. Tristan Taormino
Skateboard Kink Freak, dir. Maria Beatty