1st Feminist Conference on Women & Erotic Cinema Opens Today

NEW YORK CITY—Award-winning adult film director, entrepreneur and author Candida Royalle will be in Mexico City this month to take part in the first International Film Festival of Female Directors of Erotic Cinema to be held in Latin America. Joining her on the platform will be famed sex educator and adult film director Tristan Taormino. "Cinema and Sex, the Feminine Glance" is taking place August 20th through 26th at the Cultural Center Tlatelolco of the National Autnomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the Lido Cinema, operated by National Film Archives and the Ministry of Culture. Royalle will discuss her work and introduce her feature Eyes of Desire at screenings throughout the week. Other female directors to be featured are Jennifer Lyon Bell and Liandra Dahl. According to organizers of the event, the festival’s objective is to serve as a platform for the exhibition of the most representative films, while establishing a place for dialogue, debate, and reflection from different female visions of pornography, sex, and pleasure. In addition, three interdisciplinary panels will discuss "Pornography and freedom of speech," as well as "Appropriation of the means of representation" and "Sex, fictitious or sexual education." For more information, visit the conference's official website and check it out on Facebook. An English language version is in the works.