| Green Porno | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Jody Shapiro Isabella Rossellini |
| Produced by | Rick Gilbert Jody Shapiro Isabella Rossellini |
| Written by | Isabella Rossellini |
| Starring | Isabella Rossellini |
| Music by | Andy Byers Rick Gilbert |
| Editing by | Stacey Foster Cynthia Madansky Angelika Brudniak |
| Release date(s) | 2008 (ongoing series) |
| Language | English |
Green Porno is a series of short films on animal sexual behaviour. The series, which began in 2008 and currently airs on The Sundance Channel, is conceived, written, and directed by its star, Isabella Rossellini.
In the eight films that comprise the first season, Rossellini enacts the mating rituals of various insects and other animals (including the dragonfly, spider, bee, praying mantis, worm, snail and housefly) with cardboard cut-outs and foam-rubber sculptures. Season two is devoted to marine life. Season three deals with ocean life threatened by commercial fishing.
Contents |
According to Rossellini, the idea for Green Porno stemmed from her relationships with both Robert Redford and his Sundance Channel. Rossellini had previously worked with Sundance on a previous short film “My Dad Is 100 Years Old.”[1] Redford believed that the internet and the burgeoning mobile internet, allowed for the “re-launch of the short film format.”[2]
The Sundance Channel set aside an experimental budget and proposed that Rossellini's project should fall into the purview of the Sundance's program “The Green.” [2] Rossellini's love of animals and desire to balance out the current projects focusing on home and food with the animals that “surround us every day” yet have an “incredible variety of mating, which is very scandalous.” [2]
Rossellini says that she does a great deal of research before each episode and then spends a while determining how to translate that research into “something visual and how to make it comical.”[3] The goal, according to Rossellini is to be both entertaining and educational.
Jody Shapiro and Rick Gilbert are responsible for translating the research and concepts that Rossellini has into the paper and paste costumes which directly contribute to the series' unique visual style. After the costumes are designed, approximately one animal is filmed per day, for a total production time of about ten months per season.[3]
Over the course of Green Porno's three seasons, the focus of the show has shifted. Season one dealt exclusively with insects that people can realistically encounter on a daily basis. The second season focused on sea creatures but also included an episode on the sexual organs. For the third and smallest season, Green Porno adopted an overt environmental theme, specifically one which focused on the concept of over fishing contrasted with the mating habits of animals commonly used as food. In season three, Rossellini is joined by biologist Claudio Campagna.[4]
With the third season, Sundance Channel embarked on a Green Porno multimedia push. All four episodes of the season premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on Friday, September 11, 2009. On September 14, 2009 the series premiered on the Sundance Channel's website, and September 21, 2009 saw the broadcast television premier. Green Porno: A Book and Short Films (HarperStudio – 2009) was released in September 2009, eight days after the internet premier of web series' third season. The book served as a supplement to the series and included full color photos and a DVD with all three seasons worth of Green Porno short films.[4] [5]
On April 30, 2010, Isabella Rossellini announced her latest sequence, Seduce Me.[6]
The Male Bees are played by Roberto Rossellini, Dallas Giorgi, and Louis Giacobetti. The part of the Baby Bee Larva is played by Ona Grandey.[7]
2009 Webby – Online Film and Video – Best Individual Performance – Isabella Rossellini[8]
2009 Webby – Online Film and Video – Experimental – Green Porno[8]
The series was referenced by Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report on the 12th of May 2008.[9] It was also referenced by Graham Norton on The Graham Norton Show (which airs on BBC America) on May 31, 2009. Clips from the "Green Porno" segments on ducks and on bedbugs appeared as "Kick-Ass Clip of the Week" on the May 7, 2010, episode of The Soup as well as in an installment in their occasional series The Soup Presents. The segment on bedbugs was recently referenced by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on the 24th of August 2010.
Sundance Channel streamed the clips online and also ordered another eight marine-animal clips for debut in the spring of 2009.[10]