110-441: The Pinky Ribbon Awards ( ピンキーリボン賞 , Pinkiiribon shō ) are a Japanese cinema awards ceremony which recognizes excellence in the pink film genre. The award is held by Pink Link ( ぴんくりんく ) , a Kansai region paper covering the pink film industry. Readers of the paper elect the winners of the awards, which have been held annually since 2004. Honors go to the best three films of the year—Gold, Silver and Pearl awards—and to
220-451: A 2005 Reuters article, "The multi-billion-dollar industry releases about 11,000 titles on DVD each year." Pornographic films can be sold or rented out on DVD, shown through Internet and special channels and pay-per-view on cable and satellite, and in adult theaters . However, by 2012, widespread availability of illegally copied content and other low-cost competition on the Internet had made
330-405: A big-budget film distributed by the major studio Shochiku. Takechi's Black Snow (1965), resulted in the director's arrest on charges of obscenity and a high-profile trial, which became a major battle between Japan's intellectuals and the establishment. Takechi won the lawsuit, and the publicity surrounding the trial helped bring about a boom in the production of pink films. In her introduction to
440-503: A cinematic genre without an exact equivalent in the West. Though called pornography, the terms " erotica ", " soft porn " and " sexploitation " have been suggested as more appropriate, although none of these precisely matches the pink film genre. The Japanese film ethics board Eirin has long enforced a ban on the display of genitals and pubic hair. This restriction forced Japanese filmmakers to develop sometimes elaborate means of avoiding showing
550-567: A crime are invalid. Further attempts were made in the 1970s in the United States to close down the pornography industry, this time by prosecuting those in the industry on prostitution charges. The prosecution started in the courts in California in the case of People v. Freeman . The California Supreme Court acquitted Freeman and distinguished between someone who takes part in a sexual relationship for money (prostitution) versus someone whose role
660-399: A different image quality. Those who did change soon were collecting most of the industry's profits, since consumers overwhelmingly preferred the new format. The technology change happened quickly and completely when directors realized that continuing to shoot on film was no longer a profitable option. This change moved the films out of the theaters and into people's homes. This marked the end of
770-404: A distinction between the erotic films of the major studios such as Nikkatsu and Toei as against the low-budget pink films produced by independents such as OP Eiga. Contrasting the pink film with Western pornographic films , Pia Harritz says, "What really stands out is the ability of pinku eiga to engage the spectator in more than just scenes with close-ups of genitals and finally the complexity in
880-418: A female performer, her male partner traditionally had no distinctive features. However, there has been an increase in female viewers over time, and there have recently been efforts to increase the sexualization of male performers also. Efforts such as, men with charming facial features and well-built bodies becoming predominant in pornographic films, as well as the emergence of feminist pornography . Overtime
990-463: A few years after Blue Movie was made. The first explicitly pornographic film with a plot that received a general theatrical release in the U.S. is generally considered to be Mona the Virgin Nymph (also known as Mona ), a 59-minute 1970 feature by Bill Osco , who created the relatively high-budget hardcore/softcore (depending on the release) 1974 cult film Flesh Gordon and later, in 1976,
1100-443: A gay audience also developed, and the scenarios of the films adjust accordingly. Pornographic films attempt to present a sexual fantasy and the actors selected for a particular role are primarily selected on their ability to create that fantasy. The physical features of the actors and their ability to create the sexual mood of the film is the main factor in who is cast in certain roles. Most actors specialize in certain genres. Within
1210-409: A group of series— shigeki rosen (Sensational Line), ijoseiai rosen (Abnormal Line), and harenchi rosen (Shameless Line), today referred to by English critics as Toei's "Pinky Violence". Most of Toei's films in this style used eroticism in conjunction with violent and action-filled stories. Several of these films have the theme of strong women exacting violent revenge for past injustices. The series
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#17331047986181320-400: A line of what came to be known as Pinky Violence films. With their access to higher production values and talent, some of these films became critical and popular successes. Though the appearance of the adult video led viewers to move away from pink film in the 1980s, films in this genre are still being produced. The "pink film", or "eroduction" (erotic production) as it was first called, is
1430-523: A mass-produced, cheap, but quality product. Vast amounts of this new pornography, both magazines and films, needed to be smuggled into other parts of Europe, where it was sold "under the counter" or (sometimes) shown in "members only" cinema clubs. In the United States, producers of pornographic films formed the Adult Film Association of America in 1969, after the release of Blue Movie by Andy Warhol , to fight against censorship, and to defend
1540-480: A month of the new ruling. Eirin dealt a serious blow to the pink film industry in 1988 by introducing stricter requirements for sex-related theatrical films. Nikkatsu responded by discontinuing their Roman Porno line. Bed Partner (1988) was the final film of the venerable 17-year-old Roman Porno series. Nikkatsu continued to distribute films under the name Ropponica, and pink films through Excess Films, however these were not nearly as popular or critically respected as
1650-583: A movie from film arranged in a continuous loop). Denmark started producing comparatively big-budget theatrical feature film sex comedies such as Bordellet (1972), the Bedside -films (1970–1976) and the Zodiac -films (1973–1978), starring mainstream actors (a few of whom even performed their own sex scenes) and usually not thought of as "porno films" though all except the early Bedside -films included hardcore pornographic scenes. Several of these films still rank among
1760-530: A number of ways, including paysites , video hosting services and peer-to-peer file sharing . While pornography had been traded electronically since the 1980s, the invention of the World Wide Web in 1991, as well as the opening of the Internet to the general public around the same time, led to an explosion in online pornography. Viv Thomas , Paul Thomas , Andrew Blake , Antonio Adamo , and Rocco Siffredi were prominent directors of pornographic films in
1870-518: A queasy mix of comedy and torture." In 1972, Richie reported, "In Japan, the eroduction is the only type of picture that retains an assured patronage." To tap into this market, Toei began advertising some of its films using the English word 'porno,' a new word at the time. Onsen mimizu geisha directed by Norifumi Suzuki and starring Reiko Ike was the first such in July 1971. Producer Kanji Amao designed
1980-462: A reputation for "erotic sensitivity." Nakamura directed one of Japan's first widely distributed, well-received films with a homosexual theme, Beautiful Mystery: Legend of the Big Penis (1983), for Nikkatsu's ENK Productions, which was founded in 1983 to focus on gay-themed pink films. Some of Nakamura's later pink films were directed in collaboration with Ryūichi Hiroki , and Hitoshi Ishikawa under
2090-577: A short peck on the lips ("the mysteries of the kiss revealed"). The kissing scene was denounced as shocking and obscene to early moviegoers and caused the Roman Catholic Church to call for censorship and moral reform, because kissing in public at the time could lead to prosecution. Perhaps in defiance and "to spice up a film", this was followed by many kiss imitators, including The Kiss in the Tunnel (1899) and The Kiss (1900). A tableau vivant style
2200-416: A shower sequence with a male erection and an orgy scene with close-up penetration footage (the camera viewpoint is from the ankles of the participants, and the close-ups leave no doubt as to what is taking place). Idioterne started a wave of international mainstream arthouse films featuring explicit sexual images, such as Catherine Breillat 's Romance , which starred pornstar Rocco Siffredi . In 1999,
2310-421: A still-larger market for porn, a market that is even less traditionally theatrical. By the 2000s, there were hundreds of adult film companies, releasing tens of thousands of productions, recorded directly on video, with minimal sets. The market was further expanded by webcams and webcam recordings, in which thousands of pornographic actors work in front of the camera to satisfy pornography consumers' demand. By
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#17331047986182420-470: A variety of positions, including the 69 . El Sartorio is held currently in the Kinsey Institute 's film archive, the largest collection of stag films in the world. Because Pirou is nearly unknown as a pornographic filmmaker, credit is often given to other films for being the first. According to Patrick Robertson's Film Facts , "the earliest pornographic motion picture which can definitely be dated
2530-405: A woman masturbating alone in her bedroom, and progresses to scenes of her with a man in the missionary position , fellatio , and penile anal penetration ." Pornographic movies were widespread in the silent movie era of the 1920s, and were often shown in brothels . Soon illegal, stag films , or blue films , as they were called, were produced underground by amateurs for many years starting in
2640-496: A year in revenue, distributing 60 films annually, and selling them in video stores, hotel rooms, on cable systems, and on the Internet. The Spanish-based studio Private Media Group was listed on the NASDAQ until November 2011. Video rentals soared from just under 80 million in 1985 to a half-billion by 1993. Some subsidiaries of major corporations are the largest pornography sellers, like News Corporation 's DirecTV . Comcast ,
2750-505: Is A L'Ecu d'Or ou la bonne auberge " made in France in 1908. The plot depicts a weary soldier who has a tryst with a servant girl at an inn. He also notes that "the oldest surviving pornographic films are contained in America's Kinsey Collection. One film demonstrates how early pornographic conventions were established. The German film Am Abend (1910) is a ten-minute film which begins with
2860-458: Is a large-scale business with revenues of nearly $ 100 billion, which includes the production of various media and associated products and services . The industry employs thousands of performers along with support and production staff. It is also followed by dedicated industry publications and trade groups as well as the mainstream press, private organizations ( watchdog groups ), government agencies, and political organizations. According to
2970-457: Is considered the first true pink film. Made for 8 million yen, Kobayashi's independent feature film took in over 100 million yen. Kobayashi remained active in directing pink films until the 1990s. Tamaki Katori , the star of the film, went on to become one of the leading early pink film stars, appearing in over 600, and earning the title "Pink Princess". In 1964, maverick kabuki , theater and film director Tetsuji Takechi directed Daydream ,
3080-494: Is merely portraying a sexual relationship on-screen as part of their acting performance. The State did not appeal to the United States Supreme Court making the decision binding in California, where most pornographic films are made today. At present, no other state in the United States has either implemented or accepted this legal distinction between commercial pornography performers versus prostitutes as shown in
3190-488: Is often sold or rented on DVD; shown through Internet streaming, specialty channels and pay-per-view on cable and satellite; and viewed in rapidly disappearing adult theaters . Often due to broadcast or print censorship commissions; general public opinion; public decency laws; or religious pressure groups; overly sexualised content is generally not permitted to be shown in mainstream media , or on free-to-air television. Films with risqué content have been produced since
3300-415: Is pornography that depicts penetration or extreme fetish acts, or both. It contains graphic sexual activity and visible penetration. A pornographic work is characterized as hardcore if it has any hardcore content. Pornographic films are generally classified into subgenres which describe the underlying theme or sexual fantasy which the film and actors attempt to create. Subgenres can also be classified into
3410-504: Is sometimes made between "erotic" and "pornographic" films on the basis that the latter category contains more explicit sexuality , and focuses more on arousal than storytelling; the distinction is highly subjective. Pornographic films are produced and distributed on a variety of media, depending on the demand and technology available, including traditional footage in various formats, home video , DVDs , mobile devices, Internet download , cable TV , in addition to other media. Pornography
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3520-489: Is this censorship that gives the Japanese erotic cinema its particular style. Richie wrote: American pornography is kept forever on its elemental level because, showing all, it need do nothing else; Japanese eroductions have to do something else since they cannot show all. The stultified impulse has created some extraordinary works of art, a few films among them. None of these, however, are found among eroductions. Richie makes
3630-420: Is usually denied in most states' local prostitution laws, which do not specifically exclude performers from such inclusion. In some cases, some states have ratified their local state laws for inclusion to prevent California's Freeman decision to be applied to actors who are paid a fee for sexual actions within their state borders. One example is the state of Texas whose prostitution law specifically states: In
3740-460: The Internet further changed the way pornography was distributed. Previously, videos were ordered from an adult bookstore or through mail-order; with the Internet, people could watch pornographic movies on their computers, and instead of waiting weeks for an order to arrive, a movie could be downloaded within minutes (or, later, within a few seconds). Pornography can be distributed over the Internet in
3850-464: The Pathé brothers from French produced sources. In 1911, Saturn was dissolved by the censorship authorities which destroyed all the films they could find, though some have since resurfaced from private collections. There were a number of American films in the 1910s which featured female nudity . At the beginning of the 20th century, Argentina may have been the first center of pornographic film production in
3960-517: The Scorpion series starred Meiko Kaji , who had left Nikkatsu Studios to distance herself from their Roman Porno series. Toei also set the standard for Japanese nunsploitation films (a subgenre imported from Italy) with the critically acclaimed School of the Holy Beast (1974) directed by Norifumi Suzuki . Toei also produced a whole series of erotic samurai pictures such as Bohachi Bushido: Clan of
4070-613: The "Best Film" award at the Pink Grand Prix . Founded in 1989, the Pink Grand Prix has become a yearly highlight for the pink film community by awarding excellence in the genre and screening the top films. The 2000s have seen a significant growth in international interest in the pink film. Director Mitsuru Meike's The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai (2003) made an impression in international film festivals and gained critical praise. A planned annual "women-only" pink film festival
4180-619: The "King of Nikkatsu Roman porno " Noboru Tanaka , director of A Woman Called Sada Abe (1975), is judged by many critics today to have been the best of Nikkatsu's Roman Porno directors. The S&M subgenre of the Roman Porno was established in 1974 when the studio hired Naomi Tani to star in Flower and Snake (based on an Oniroku Dan novel), and Wife to be Sacrificed , both directed by Masaru Konuma. Tani's immense popularity established her as Nikkatsu's third Roman Porno Queen, and
4290-401: The "working parts", as American film historian Donald Richie puts it. He wrote: The eroductions are the limpest of softcore, and though there is much breast and buttock display, though there are simulations of intercourse, none of the working parts are ever shown. Indeed, one pubic hair breaks an unwritten but closely observed code. Though this last problem is solved by shaving the actresses,
4400-399: The $ 2.6–3.9 billion figure (without the cellphone component). USA Today claimed in 2003 that websites such as Danni's Hard Drive and Cybererotica.com generated $ 2 billion in revenue in that year, which was allegedly about 10% of the overall domestic porn market at the time. The adult movies income (from sale and rent) was once estimated by AVN Publications at $ 4.3 billion but
4510-484: The 1900s and was a frequent visitor to the pornographic cinemas in the Barracas neighborhood. The Argentine film El Sartorio (also known as El Satario ) is perhaps the oldest known pornographic film, a theory held by several authors. Filmed between 1907 and 1912 on the riverside of Quilmes or Rosario , the film depicts six nude nymphs who are surprised by a satyr or faun, who captures one of them and then has sex in
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4620-409: The 1940s. Processing the film took considerable time and resources, with people using their bathtubs to wash the film when processing facilities (often tied to organized crime) were unavailable. The films were then circulated privately or by traveling salesmen, but anyone caught viewing or possessing them risked a prison sentence. The post-war era saw technological developments that further stimulated
4730-545: The 1969 film Blue Movie , one of the first to be reviewed by The New York Times . Other notable American hardcore feature films of the 1970s include Deep Throat (1972), Behind the Green Door (1972), The Devil in Miss Jones (1973), Radley Metzger 's The Opening of Misty Beethoven (1976) and Debbie Does Dallas (1978). These were shot on film and screened in mainstream movie theaters. In Britain, Deep Throat
4840-506: The 1970s and 1980s, filed for bankruptcy protection in 1993. Nevertheless, even in this most difficult period for the pink film, the genre never completely died out, and continued exploring new artistic realms. Indeed, at this time the pink film was viewed as one of the last refuges of the " auteur " in Japan. So long as the director provided the requisite number of sex scenes, he was free to explore his own thematic and artistic interests. Three of
4950-419: The 1970s. Most exploitation films produced in the 1960's were made by low-budget independent companies. The major studio Toei released a few films with female nudity, starting with Kunoichi ninpō in 1964 by director Sadao Nakajima . In films like his ero-guro series and Joys of Torture series of the late 1960s director Teruo Ishii provided a model for Toei's sexploitation ventures by "establishing
5060-507: The 1980s, a time when the theatrical porn film was facing considerable difficulties on several fronts, this group is known for elevating the pink film above its low origins by concentrating on technical finesse and narrative content. Some critics dubbed the style of their films " pink art". By the time Nakamura joined Nikkatsu in 1983, he had already directed over 100 films. While the plots of his films, which could be extremely misogynistic, were not highly respected, his visual style earned him
5170-610: The 1980s, pornography on home video achieved wider distribution. The rise of the Internet in the late 1990s and early 2000s changed the way pornographic films were distributed, complicating censorship regimes around the world and legal prosecutions of "obscenity". Pornographic films are typically categorized as either softcore or hardcore pornography . In general, softcore pornography is pornography that does not depict explicit sexual activity , sexual penetration or extreme fetishism . It generally contains nudity or partial nudity in sexually suggestive situations. Hardcore pornography
5280-511: The 1990s. In 1998, the Danish , Oscar -nominated film production company Zentropa became the world's first mainstream film company to openly produce hardcore pornographic films, starting with Constance (1998). That same year, Zentropa also produced Idioterne (1998), directed by Lars von Trier , which won many international awards and was nominated for a Golden Palm in Cannes. The film includes
5390-475: The 2000s, the fortunes of the pornography industry had changed. With reliably profitable DVD sales being largely supplanted by streaming media delivery over the Internet , competition from bootleg, amateur and low-cost professional content on the Internet had made the industry substantially less profitable, leading to it shrinking in size. At the same time this gave rise to video sharing platforms such as Pornhub , XVideos and xHamster . Globally, pornography
5500-418: The 8mm market of his models undressing and posing topless, popularly known as "glamour home movies". To Marks, the term "glamour" was a euphemism for nude modeling/photography. Starting in 1961, Lasse Braun was a pioneer in quality colour productions that were, in the early days, distributed by making use of his father's diplomatic privileges. Braun was able to accumulate funds for his lavish productions from
5610-445: The AVs had already attained an approximately equal share of the adult entertainment market with theatrical erotic films. In 1984, new government censorship policies and an agreement between Eirin (the Japanese film-rating board) and the pink-film companies added to Nikkatsu's difficulties by putting drastic new restrictions on theatrical films. Theatrical pink movie profits dropped 36% within
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#17331047986185720-546: The Afternoon , starring Kazuko Shirakawa . The film became a huge hit, inspired 20 sequels within seven years, established Shirakawa as Nikkatsu's first "Queen", and successfully launched the high-profile Roman Porno series. Director Masaru Konuma says that the process of making Roman Porno was the same as that of making a pink film except for the higher budget. Nikkatsu made these higher-quality sexploitation films almost exclusively, at an average rate of three per month, for
5830-572: The Danish TV channel Kanal København started broadcasting hardcore films at night, uncoded and freely available to any viewer in the Copenhagen area (as of 2009, this is still the case, courtesy of Innocent Pictures , a company started by Zentropa). Once people could watch adult movies in the privacy of their own homes, a new adult market developed that far exceeded the scope of its theater-centric predecessor. The Internet served as catalyst for creating
5940-537: The First Wave". In 1965, the same year as Wakamatsu became independent, directors Kan Mukai and Giichi Nishihara established their own production companies—Mukai Productions and Aoi Eiga. The "first queen of Japanese sex movies" was Noriko Tatsumi , who made films at World Eiga and Nihon Cinema with director Kōji Seki . Other major Sex Queens of the first wave of pink film included Setsuko Ogawa , Mari Iwai, Keiko Kayama, and Miki Hayashi. Other pink film stars of
6050-513: The Florida case where sex film maker Clinton Raymond McCowen, aka "Ray Guhn", was indicted on charges of "soliciting and engaging in prostitution" for his creation of pornography films which included "McCowen and his associates recruited up to 100 local men and women to participate in group sex scenes, the affidavit says." The distinction that California has in its legal determination in the Freeman decision
6160-724: The Forgotten Eight (Bōhachi Bushidō: Poruno Jidaigeki) (1973). In 1971, Takashi Itamochi, president of Nikkatsu, Japan's oldest major film studio, decided to stop his own company's involvement with action films and start making sexploitation films. Like Toei, Nikkatsu had made some previous films in the sexploitation market, such as Story of Heresy in Meiji Era (1968) and Tokyo Bathhouse (1968), which featured over 30 sex-film stars in cameo appearances. Nikkatsu launched its Roman Porno series in November 1971 with Apartment Wife: Affair In
6270-466: The Roman Porno series had been in its heyday. By the end of the 1980s, adult videos had become the main form of adult cinematic entertainment in Japan. The dominant directors of pink films of the 1980s, Genji Nakamura , Banmei Takahashi and Mamoru Watanabe are known collectively as "The Three Pillars Of Pink". All three were veterans of the pink film industry since the 1960s. Coming to prominence in
6380-551: The Sun (1960), Nude on the Moon (1961) and Diary of a Nudist (1961). She also produced a series of sexploitation films. In the 1960s, social and judicial attitudes towards the explicit depiction of sexuality began to change. For example, Swedish film I Am Curious (Yellow) (1967) included numerous frank nude scenes and simulated sexual intercourse. In one particularly controversial scene, Lena kisses her lover's flaccid penis. The film
6490-532: The U.S.. The prosecution of Harold Freeman was initially planned as the first in a series of legal cases to effectively outlaw the production of such movies. In the late 1990s, pornographic films were distributed on DVD. These offered better quality picture and sound than the previous video format ( videotape ) and allowed innovations such as "interactive" videos that let users choose such variables as multiple camera angles, multiple endings and computer-only DVD content. The introduction and widespread availability of
6600-426: The United States, federal law prohibits the sale, distribution or dissemination of obscene materials through the mail, over the broadcast airwaves, on cable or satellite TV, on the Internet, over the telephone or by any other means that cross state lines. Most states also have specific laws banning the sale or distribution of obscene pornography within state borders. The only protection for obscene material recognized by
6710-456: The Weisser's Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films , actress Naomi Tani calls this period in pink film production "The Age of Competition". Though Japan's major studios, such as Nikkatsu and Shochiku made occasional forays into erotica in the 1960s, such as director Seijun Suzuki 's Gate of Flesh (1964)—the first Japanese film from one of the big four major studios to contain nudity,
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#17331047986186820-596: The X-rated musical-comedy film Alice in Wonderland . The 1971 film Boys in the Sand represented a number of pornographic firsts. As the first generally available gay pornographic film, the film was the first to include on-screen credits for its cast and crew (albeit largely under pseudonyms), to parody the title of a mainstream film (in this case, The Boys in the Band ), and, after
6930-481: The adult entertainment industry and from the mainstream film community. The following is a partial listing. Mainstream film award. 1979 Cinema bi-weekly journal film award. 1969 1972 Nikkatsu studio's in-house awards. 1985 1987 Tabloid magazine award for "the girl you think of while masturbating". The other yearly award was given for the "Tsuma No Mibun", or "girl you would like to marry." 1976 Hosted every April by PG magazine. Currently
7040-440: The age of big-budget productions, and the beginning of the mainstreaming of pornography. It soon went back to its earthy roots and expanded to cover nearly every fetish possible, since the production of pornography was now inexpensive. Instead of hundreds of pornographic films being made each year, thousands were being made, including compilations of just the sex scenes from various videos. One could now not only watch pornography in
7150-466: The arrival of the home video cassette recorder in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the pornographic movie industry experienced massive growth and spawned adult stars like Traci Lords , Seka , Christy Canyon , Ginger Lynn , Nina Hartley , and directors such as Gregory Dark . By 1982, most pornographic films were being shot on the cheaper and more convenient medium of videotape . Many film directors resisted this shift at first because videotape produced
7260-552: The average film targeted at a heterosexual male audience, the primary focus is on the sexually attractive appearance of female actress or actresses, meanwhile most male performers in heterosexual pornography are selected less for their looks and more so for their sexual prowess. They are presented as being able to fulfill the proxy fantasy of the male watching audience. In the United States, the Supreme Court held in 1969 that State laws making mere private possession of obscene material
7370-777: The best actresses. Actress awards are Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best New Actress, and since 2006, Outstanding Performance by an Actress. Gold-潮吹き花嫁の性白書(shiofuki hanayomeno seihakusyo) Pink film Pink film ( ピンク映画 , Pinku eiga ) refers in Japan to movies produced by independent studios that includes nudity (hence 'pink') or deals with sexual content. This encompasses everything from dramas to action thrillers and exploitation film features. Many pink films would be analogous to erotic thrillers such as Fatal Attraction , Fifty Shades of Grey , Basic Instinct and 9½ Weeks . Independent studios that release pink films include OP Eiga , Shintōhō Eiga , Kokuei and Xces. The phrase 'pink film' came into use after
7480-464: The characteristics of the performers or the type of sexual activity on which it concentrates and not necessarily on the market to which each subgenre appeals. The subgenres usually conform to certain conventions , and each may appeal to a particular audience. Production of erotic films commenced almost immediately after the invention of the motion picture. Two of the earliest pioneers were Frenchmen Eugène Pirou and Albert Kirchner . Kirchner, under
7590-402: The clandestine 'stag film' trade, Dave Thompson recounts ample evidence that such an industry first had sprung up in the brothels of Buenos Aires and other South American cities by the turn of the 20th century, and then quickly spread through Central Europe over the following few years. In his biography of Eugene O'Neill , Louis Sheaffer recounts that the playwright traveled to Buenos Aires in
7700-425: The comfort and privacy of one's own home, but also find more choices available to satisfy specific fantasies and fetishes. Similarly, the camcorder spurred changes in pornography in the 1980s, when people could make their own amateur sex movies, whether for private use, or for wider distribution. The de facto result of the 1987 legal case California v. Freeman effectively legalized hardcore pornography in
7810-584: The country's adult entertainment is often estimated at $ 10–13 billion, of which $ 4–6 billion are legal. The figure is often credited to a study by Forrester Research and was lowered in 1998. In 2007 The Observer newspaper also gave a figure of $ 13 billion. Other sources, quoted by Forbes (Adams Media Research, Veronis Suhler Communications Industry Report, and IVD), even taking into consideration all possible means (video networks and pay-per-view movies on cable and satellite, websites, in-room hotel movies, phone sex, sex toys, and magazines) mention
7920-450: The demand of triple-feature showings. Films that are now regarded as pink films became wildly popular in the mid-1960s, and made up a large part of the Japanese domestic market through the mid-1980s. In the 1960s, the pink films were largely the product of small, independent studios. Around 1970, the major studio Nikkatsu started focusing almost exclusively on erotic content, but Toei, another major film production company, started producing
8030-588: The early 1960s, graphic depictions of nudity and sex in Japanese film could only be seen in single-reel "stag films," made by film producers such as those depicted in Imamura 's film The Pornographers (1966). The first wave of the pink film in Japan was contemporary with the similar U.S. sexploitation film genres, the "nudie-cuties" and "roughies". Nudity and sex officially entered Japanese cinema with Satoru Kobayashi 's controversial and popular independent production Flesh Market ( Nikutai no Ichiba , 1962), which
8140-463: The enjoyment of the well-to-do class of [Europe]." Writing about the origins of underground cinema, Arthur Knight and Hollis Alpert explain that hardcore films were shipped by boat from Argentina to private buyers, mostly in France and England, but also in more distant places such as Russia and the Balkans. In Black and White and Blue (2008), one of the most scholarly attempts to document the origins of
8250-414: The era include Tamaki Katori, who appeared in many films for Giichi Nishihara and Kōji Wakamatsu; Kemi Ichiboshi, whose specialty was playing the role of a violated innocent; and Mari Nagisa. Younger starlets like Naomi Tani , and Kazuko Shirakawa were starting their careers and already making names for themselves in the pink film industry, but are best remembered today for their work with Nikkatsu during
8360-668: The figure obtaining is unclear. According to the 2001 Forbes data, the annual income distribution is the following: The Online Journalism Review , published by the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Southern California , weighed in with an analysis that favored Forbes' number. The financial extent of adult films, distributed in hotels, is hard to estimate—hotels keep statistics to themselves or do not keep them at all. The world's largest adult movie studio Vivid Entertainment generates an estimated $ 100 million
8470-524: The first country to abolish all censorship laws, enabling pornography, including hardcore pornography. The example was followed by toleration in the Netherlands, also in 1969. There was an explosion of pornography commercially produced in those countries, including, at the very beginning, child pornography and bestiality porn. Now that being a pornographer was legal, there was no shortage of businessmen who invested in plant and equipment capable of turning out
8580-466: The first of their S&M Queens. Tani was also directed by the important director Shôgorô Nishimura in titles that became classics, such as Rope Cosmetology (1978). Other subgenres developed under the Roman Porno line included "Violent Pink", established in 1976 by director Yasuharu Hasebe . When ownership of VCRs first became widespread in the early 1980s, adult videos made their appearance, and quickly became highly popular. As early as 1982,
8690-652: The following scattered references are what items can be gleaned from the web. Pornographic film Pornographic films ( pornos ), erotic films , adult films , sex films , 18+ films , or also known as blue films (in British English and other English-speaking countries), are films that represent sexually explicit subject matter in order to arouse , fascinate, or satisfy the viewer. Pornographic films represent sexual fantasies and usually include erotically stimulating material such as nudity ( softcore ) and sexual intercourse ( hardcore ). A distinction
8800-426: The fundamental pink rules by cutting down in the sex scenes in pursuit of their own artistic concerns. Their films were considered "difficult"—dark, complex, and largely unpopular with the older pink audience. The title "Four Heavenly Kings of Pink" ( ピンク四天王 , pinku shitennō ) was applied to these directors, at first sarcastically, by disgruntled theater owners. On the other hand, Roland Domenig, in his essay on
8910-449: The group pseudonym Go Ijuin. Banmei Takahashi directed "intricate, highly stylistic pinku eiga ", including New World of Love (1994), the first Japanese theatrical film to display genitals. Another prominent cult director of this era, Kazuo "Gaira" Komizu , is known for his Herschell Gordon Lewis -influenced "splatter-eros" films, which bridge the genres of horror and erotica. Nikkatsu, Japan's largest producer of pink films during
9020-419: The growth of a mass market and amateur film-making, particularly the introduction of the 8 mm and super-8 film gauges, popular for the home movie market. Entrepreneurs emerged to meet the demand. In Britain, in the 1950s, Harrison Marks produced films which were considered risqué, and which today would be described as "soft core". In 1958, as an offshoot of his magazines, Marks began making short films for
9130-424: The industry against obscenity charges. In the 1970s, there was a more tolerant judicial attitude to non-mainstream films. Mainstream theatres did not usually screen even softcore films, leading to a rise of adult theaters in the United States and many other countries. There was also a proliferation of coin-operated "movie booths" in sex shops that displayed pornographic "loops" (so called because they projected
9240-442: The insecurity of Japan's post-bubble generation. Known together as the "Seven Lucky Gods of Pink" ( ピンク七福神 , pinku shichifukujin ) they are Toshiya Ueno , Shinji Imaoka , Yoshitaka Kamata , Toshiro Enomoto , Yūji Tajiri , Mitsuru Meike and Rei Sakamoto . Ueno was the first director of this group to rise to prominence, acting as an "advance guard" for the group when his Keep on Masturbating: Non-Stop Pleasure (1994) won
9350-453: The invention of motion picture in the 1880s. Production of such films was profitable, and a number of producers began to specialize in their production. Various groups within society considered such depictions immoral , labeled them "pornographic", and attempted to have them suppressed under other obscenity laws , with varying degrees of success. Such films continued to be produced, and could only be distributed by underground channels . Because
9460-445: The larger remains: how to stimulate when the means are missing. To work around this censorship, most Japanese directors positioned props—lamps, candles, bottles, etc.—at strategic locations to block the banned body parts. When this was not done, the most common alternative techniques are digital scrambling, covering the prohibited area with a black box or a fuzzy white spot, known as a mosaic or " fogging ". Some have claimed that it
9570-439: The major Toei began advertising some of its movies as 'porno' in 1971 and another major Nikkatsu switched to producing only Roman Porno films later that year. Until the early 2000s, they were almost exclusively shot on 35 mm film . Recently, filmmakers have increasingly used video (while retaining their emphasis on soft-core narrative). Many theaters swapped 35mm for video projectors and began relying on old videos to meet
9680-458: The major pink film award ceremony. Founded 1989, covers 1988–present. Annual award held by the Kansai region Pink Link magazine. 2004–present. Mainstream film festival awards. 1985 The Zoom-Up Film Festival (ズームアップ映画祭) pink film awards began in 1980 for movies released in the previous year. The awards continued to at least 1994. Since no listing of the awards seems to be presently available,
9790-523: The majority of erotic films were made by the independents. Independent studios such as Nihon Cinema and World Eiga made dozens of cheap, profitable "eroductions". Among the most influential independent studios producing pink films in this era were Shintōhō Eiga (the second studio to use this name), Million Film , Kantō, and Ōkura . Typically shown on a three-film program, these films were made by these companies to show at their own chain of specialty theaters. Another major pink film studio, Wakamatsu Studios,
9900-482: The most prominent pink film directors of the 1990s, Kazuhiro Sano , Toshiki Satō and Takahisa Zeze all made their directorial debuts in 1989. A fourth, Hisayasu Satō , debuted in 1985. Coming to prominence during one of the most precarious times for the pink film, these directors worked under the assumption that each film could be their last, and so largely ignored their audience to concentrate on intensely personal, experimental themes. These directors even broke one of
10010-627: The most seen films in Danish film history and all remain favourites on home video. In 1969, Blue Movie by Andy Warhol was the first adult erotic film depicting explicit sex to receive wide theatrical release in the United States. The film was a seminal film in the Golden Age of Porn and, according to Warhol, a major influence in the making of Last Tango in Paris , an internationally controversial erotic drama film, starring Marlon Brando , and released
10120-423: The name "Léar", directed the earliest surviving erotic film for Pirou. The 7-minute 1896 film Le Coucher de la Mariée had Louise Willy [ af ; ca ; fr ; vo ] performing a bathroom striptease . Other French filmmakers also considered that profits could be made from this type of risqué films, showing women disrobing. Also in 1896. Fatima's Coochie-Coochie dance [ fr ; nl ]
10230-446: The nation's largest cable company, once pulled in $ 50 million from adult programming. Revenues of companies such as Playboy and Hustler were small by comparison. Pornographic films are produced and directed at a target audience, who buy and view the films. Traditionally, the audience of pornographic films have been straight males, the male actor typically acted as a proxy for the viewer. A typical pornographic film focuses on
10340-460: The next 17 years. Nikkatsu gave its Roman Porno directors a great deal of artistic freedom in creating their films, as long as they met the official minimum quota of four nude or sex scenes per hour. The result was a series that was popular both with audiences and with critics. One or two Roman Pornos appeared on the top-ten lists of Japanese critics every year throughout the run of the series. Nikkatsu's higher-quality sex films essentially took
10450-463: The pink film market away from the smaller, independent studios until the mid-1980s, when adult videos began to lure away much of the pink film's clientele. Tatsumi Kumashiro was one of the major directors of the Roman Porno . Kumashiro directed a string of financial and critical hits unprecedented in Japanese cinematic history, including Ichijo's Wet Desire (1972) and Woman with Red Hair (1979), starring Junko Miyashita . He became known as
10560-427: The pink film, says that their work offers "a refreshing contrast to the formulaic and stereotyped films that make up the larger part of pink eiga production, and are strongly influenced by the notion of the filmmaker as auteur." The newest prominent group of seven pink film directors all began as assistant directors to the shitennō . Their films display individualistic styles and introspective character indicative of
10670-407: The porno business does $ 100 million a year in gross retain volume." According to the 1986 Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, American adult entertainment industry has grown considerably over the past thirty years by continually changing and expanding to appeal to new markets, though the production is considered to be low-profile and clandestine. As of 2013 the total current income of
10780-617: The pornographic film industry smaller and reduced profitability. The global pornographic film industry is dominated by the United States, with the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles being the heart of the industry. In 1975, the total retail value of all the hardcore pornography in the United States was estimated at $ 5–10 million. The 1979, Revision of the Federal Criminal Code stated that "in Los Angeles alone,
10890-490: The profit gained with so-called loops, ten-minute hardcore movies which he sold to Reuben Sturman , who distributed them to 60,000 American peep show booths. Braun was always on the move, and made his hardcore movies in a number of countries, including Spain, France, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands. In December 1960, American female director Doris Wishman began producing a series of eight pornographic films, or nudist films without sex scenes, including Hideout in
11000-463: The representation of gender and the human mind." Richie and Harritz enumerate the fundamental elements of the pink film formula as: In the years since the end of World War II , eroticism had been gradually making its way into Japanese cinema. The first kiss to be seen in Japanese film—discreetly half-hidden by an umbrella—caused a national sensation in 1946. Although throughout the 1940s and early 1950s nudity in Japanese movie theaters, as in most of
11110-405: The viewing of such films carried a social stigma , they were viewed at brothels , adult movie theaters, stag parties , home, private clubs, and night cinemas. In the 1970s, during the Golden Age of Porn , pornographic films were semi-legitimized, to the point where actors not known for appearances in such productions would be cast members (though rarely participating in the explicit scenes); by
11220-700: The world, was a taboo, some films from the mid-50s such as Shintoho 's female pearl-diver films starring buxom Michiko Maeda , began showing more flesh than would have previously been imaginable in the Japanese cinema. During the same period, the taiyozoku films on the teen-age "Sun Tribe", such as Kō Nakahira 's Crazed Fruit (1956), introduced unprecedented sexual frankness into Japanese films. Foreign films of this time, such as Ingmar Bergman 's Summer with Monika (1953), Louis Malle 's Amants (1958), and Russ Meyer 's Immoral Mr. Teas (1959) introduced female nudity into international cinema, and were imported to Japan without problem. Nevertheless, until
11330-589: The world. It is considered that the porn film was born in France practically at the same time as the cinematographic medium, but it was in Buenos Aires where the clandestine production of these films, known as stag films or smokers, was capitalized. Around 1905, Pathé and Gaumont moved the production of porn to Argentina to avoid censorship by the French government. These films were not intended for local or popular consumption, but were "sophisticated entertainment for
11440-583: Was exhibited in mainstream cinemas, but in 1969 it was banned in Massachusetts allegedly for being pornographic. The ban was challenged in the courts, with the Supreme Court of the United States ultimately declaring that the film was not obscene, paving the way for other sexually explicit films. Another Swedish film Language of Love (1969) was also sexually explicit, but was framed as a quasi-documentary sex educational film , which made its legal status uncertain though controversial. In 1969, Denmark became
11550-549: Was first held in South Korea in 2007, and again in November 2008. In 2008, a company called Pink Eiga, Inc. was formed with the sole purpose of releasing pink films on DVD in the U.S. While some directors have used pink films as a steppingstone for their careers, others work exclusively with the genre. Some notable directors of pink films include: Some notable pinku eiga actresses include: Outstanding pink films and their actors and directors have been given awards both from
11660-648: Was formed by director Kōji Wakamatsu in 1965, after quitting Nikkatsu. Known as "The Pink Godfather", and called "the most important director to emerge in the pink film genre", Wakamatsu's independent productions are critically respected works usually concerned with sex and extreme violence mixed with political messages. His most controversial early films dealing with misogyny and sadism are The Embryo Hunts In Secret (1966), Violated Angels (1967), and Go, Go Second Time Virgin (1969). Three other important pink film directors of this time, Kan Mukai , Kin'ya Ogawa and Shin'ya Yamamoto are known as "The Heroes of
11770-689: Was launched with the Delinquent Girl Boss ( Zubeko Bancho ) films starring Reiko Oshida . Other series in the Pinky Violence genre included Norifumi Suzuki 's Girl Boss ( Sukeban ) films, and the Terrifying Girls' High School films, both starring Reiko Ike and Miki Sugimoto . Other examples of Toei's films in this genre include Shunya Ito 's Sasori (Scorpion) series of women in prison films based on Toru Shinohara 's manga . Starting with Female Prisoner#701: Scorpion (1972),
11880-458: Was not approved in its uncut form until 2000 and not shown publicly until June 2005. In the U.S. Miller v. California was an important court case in 1973. The case established that obscenity was not legally protected, but the case also established the Miller test , a three-pronged test to determine obscenity (which is not legal) as opposed to indecency (which may or may not be legal). With
11990-471: Was released as a short nickelodeon kinetoscope /film featuring a gyrating belly dancer named Fatima. Her gyrating and moving pelvis was censored, one of the earliest films to be censored. At the time, there were numerous risque films that featured exotic dancers. In the same year, The May Irwin Kiss contained the first kiss on film. It was a 47-second film loop, with a close-up of a nuzzling couple followed by
12100-685: Was used in short film Birth of The Pearl [ cy ] (1901) featuring an unnamed long-haired young model wearing a flesh-colored body stocking in a direct frontal pose that provides a provocative view of the female body. The pose is in the style of Botticelli 's The Birth of Venus . In Austria, cinemas organised men-only nights (called Herrenabende ) at which adult films were shown. Johann Schwarzer formed his Saturn-Film production company which between 1906 and 1911 produced 52 erotic productions, each of which contained young local women fully nude, to be shown at those screenings. Before Schwarzer's productions, erotic films were provided by
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