CineKink Reunites Golden Era Porn Legends For “A Tribute to Club 90”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CineKink Reunites Golden Era Porn Legends For “A Tribute to Club 90”
NEW YORK, NY; February 4, 2015 – CineKink has announced that A TRIBUTE TO CLUB 90 will be the centerpiece of its twelfth annual film festival, CineKink NYC, which runs February 24-March 1, 2015. Bringing together four of the club’s founding members for a rare public reunion, the special event will take place Friday, February 27 at 9:30 PM, at Anthology Film Archives (32 Second Ave., NYC; $20 admission)
Five adult film stars from New York’s “Golden Age of Porn,” Veronica Hart, Gloria Leonard, Candida Royalle, Annie Sprinkle and Veronica Vera, came together in 1983 to create Club 90, the first-ever porn star support group. Named for the address of the living room where they regularly met, the group forged a bond that would continue for more than thirty years. Turning to one another as they began to navigate life after starring in blue movies, these dynamic women went on to pursue their own personal and creative goals, and in the process, blazed new trails in the fields of human sexuality, women’s empowerment, erotic expression, and free speech.
– Veronica Hart, aka Jane Hamilton, has had a long career in adult and mainstream movies, still working on both sides of the camera. She also uses her expertise to educate women in the U.S. and China on issues of love, intimacy, aging and self-pleasure.
– Gloria Leonard debated some of the toughest anti-porn activists and toured college campuses as a self-described “stand up constitutionalist”, enlightening students on the First Amendment. She was the first woman president of the Free Speech Coalition.
– Candida Royalle created Femme Productions in 1984 and became known for “pioneering erotic cinema from a woman’s perspective”, encouraging other women to follow her lead.
– Annie Sprinkle morphed into a performance artist and sexologist, sharing her experiences through her own unique brand of “Post Porn” films, books and articles, theater performances, and teaching.
– Veronica Vera founded the world’s first cross-dressing academy, Miss Vera’s Finishing School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls, enriching the lives of trans people across the gender spectrum.
In 2002, Ms. Sprinkle earned her PhD from the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco. Mses. Hart, Leonard, Royalle and Vera were each awarded the degree Doctor of Human Sexuality in 2014.
“The women of Club 90 have always been a huge source of inspiration for those of us in the sex-positive movement, particularly women,” said Lisa Vandever, CineKink co-founder and director. “With their unabashed stance that feminism and sexual self-expression can be one, and a body of work that spans an incredible range of creativity and activism, we’re honored to bring them together for this rare reunion.”
Featuring clips of the group’s favorite work from both sides of the camera, A TRIBUTE TO CLUB 90 will also include a special remembrance of Gloria Leonard, who passed away in 2013, along with frank and funny reminiscences of the days when NYC was America’s sex film capital, movies were shot on 35mm film, and Times Square was strictly x-rated.
Known as the “kinky film festival,” CineKink NYC runs February 24 through March 1, 2015, and will again feature films and videos that celebrate and explore a wide diversity of sexuality. With offerings drawn from both the independent film world and the adult, works presented at the festival will range from documentary to drama, comedy to experimental, slightly spicy to quite explicit – and everything in between.
For more information and advance tickets, visit http://dev.cinekink.com
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A TRIBUTE TO CLUB 90 will take place on Friday, February 27, 9:30 PM at Anthology Film Archives (32 Second Avenue, NYC). Tickets are $20 and may be purchased in advance at http://cinekinknyc2015.eventbrite.com
TO REQUEST AN INTERVIEW WITH CLUB 90 MEMBERS: please email press2015 * at * cinekink.com
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CineKink Reunites Golden Era Porn Legends For “A Tribute to Club 90”
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CONTACT: Lisa Vandever
PHONE: 917.609.5928 (media contacts only, please, not for publication)
EMAIL: press2015 * at * cinekink.com
WEBSITE: http://dev.cinekink.com
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/cinekink
BIOS:
CANDIDA ROYALLE
Candida Royalle, president of Femme Productions, is best known for having pioneered the concept of adult movies from a woman’s perspective for couples to share. A former actress during the “golden age” of adult movies, it is her work as director/producer of 18 internationally acclaimed erotic movies of which she is most proud. Continuing to innovate in the field of sexuality, she partnered with Dutch Industrial designers, Groet Design to create the revolutionary line of Natural Contours® sexual wellness products. In 2004 Simon & Schuster published her first book, “How to Tell a Naked Man What To Do: Sex Advice From a Woman Who Knows,” followed by the paperback in February ’06. Candida Royalle™ has become a sought-after speaker, having lectured at such venues as the Smithsonian Institute, the American Psychiatric Association’s national conference, and the World Congress on Sexology, as well as several sexuality conferences and universities including Princeton, Columbia, Wellesley College and New York University. She is a member of the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists, (AASECT) and a founding Board member of Feminists for Free Expression (FFEUSA.org). http://www.candidaroyalle.com
VERONICA VERA
Veronica Vera is author of two books: “Miss Vera’s Crossdress for Success” (Villard, 2002) and “Miss Vera’s Finishing School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls” (Doubleday, 1997), both are based on Miss Vera’s Finishing School, the internationally known, world’s first crossdressing academy which she founded in 1992. She is a respected visionary in the transgender community. Prior to that, in the early 80’s, after leaving her job as a Wall Street stock trader, Veronica wrote hundreds of articles on the subject of human sexuality. In many of them, she was an active participant exploring her own sexual issues. She testified for freedom of expression before Arlen Spector and a committee of the Senate Judiciary. Her testimony was later incorporated into the Meese Report. Veronica starred in a number of adult movies, collaborated as a model with Robert Mapplethorpe and other artists. In 1989, she helped re-organize P.O.N.Y. (Prostitutes of New York). Veronica is a founding member and on the Executive board of Feminist for Free Expression. See, www.missvera.com.
ANNIE SPRINKLE
Annie Sprinkle Ph.D. was a NYC prostitute and porn star for twenty years; then morphed into a performance artist and sexologist. She has passionately explored sexuality for forty years, sharing her experiences through making her own unique brand of feminist sex films, writing books and articles, visual art making, theater performances, and teaching. Annie has consistently championed sex worker rights and health care and was one of the pivotal players of the Sex Positive Movement of the 1980′s. She got her BFA at School of Visual Arts in NYC. Annie Sprinkle is the first porn star to earn a Ph.D., which is in Human Sexuality. She’s a popular lecturer whose work is studied in many colleges and Universities. For the past 11 years she has been collaborating on art projects with her partner, artist and professor, Elizabeth Stephens. They are movers and shakers in the new “ecosex movement,” committed to environmental activism. They started Occupy Bernal (San Francisco) where they live. www.anniesprinkle.org and www.sexecology.org
VERONICA HART
Veronica Hart aka Jane Hamilton, a UNLV graduate with a BA in theatrical arts, has performed on stage in many roles and became a star in adult cinema’s golden age in such classics as “Amanda by Night”, “Roommates”, and “Wanda Whips Wall Street.” She has won Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress in the Erotica and Critics Adult Film Awards and is included in several Adult Hall of Fames. Veronica has performed in over thirty R-rated movies and numerous television appearances playing Viveca St. John in “Six Feet Under”, the custody judge in “Boogie Nights” and Veronica Del Rio in “One-Eyed Monster”.
As Jane Hamilton producer and as Veronica Hart director, she has made over twenty features for VCA and also produced Michael Ninn’s features. She produced and directed three r-rated features for Mainline Releasing Group, produced the horror film “Parasomnia” with William Malone directing, and is now working with author/director John Skipp to produce “Rose” a bizarro zombie musical. A former board member of the Free Speech Coalition, Veronica is the mother of two fabulous young men, works at the Erotic Heritage Museum in Las Vegas and is in a wonderful relationship with her high school sweetheart, Stan Clawson.
GLORIA LEONARD
In a career which both began and ended behind the scenes, front and center is where Gloria Leonard spent most of her professional life. Whether as an actress or director of such adult classics as “Misty Beethoven,” “Fortune Smiles,” “Taboo: American Style,” or as a much sought-after guest on countless talk shows (Oprah, Geraldo, Maury, Larry King, Howard Stern et al), Gloria was an enigmatic presence whose patrician earthiness vies with a disarming intellect for your attention. Ms. Leonard was also the host of her own television shows – “The Leonard Report: For Adults Only” and later, “Gloria Leonard’s Hot Shopper Hour,” a humorously hedonist paean to TV home shopping which featured sexy merchandise, interesting guests, film reviews and comic relief. Vogue magazine’s review recommended that the Fox Network snap her up. Gloria’s fourteen-year stint as Publisher of “High Society” magazine often thrust her into the eye of intense media hurricanes. She pioneered the publishing of “celebrity skin.” With Gloria at the helm, ‘High Society’ became one of the best selling newsstand magazines in America. Ms. Leonard was an ardent feminist and First Amendment advocate who debated extensively on the issues of pornography, censorship and their impact on the women’s movement at dozens of colleges and universities. She served as President of the Adult Film Association, Administrative Director of the Adult Video Association and was a two-term President Emeritus of the Free Speech Coalition. Gloria Leonard was born in New York City and single-handedly raised a successful, charming daughter, who in turn, has a daughter of her own.
ABOUT CINEKINK
Just entering its twelfth season, CineKink is an annual film festival and national screening tour that celebrates and explores the wide diversity of sexuality. Presented by CineKink, an organization dedicated to the recognition and encouragement of sex-positive and kink-friendly depictions in film and television, works showcased by the festival range from documentary to drama, spicy to explicit – and everything in between!
For more information, visit http://dev.cinekink.com