A Short Archaeology of Lust in Silent Film

As soon as the voyeuristic camera is given free reign, the cinematic eye will roam to the world’s most natural thing and take in the use and excesses of lust. Clothes are shed before the camera as early as 1900 in France. A few years later, the earliest pornographic films are made, mainly for use in brothels, not only portraying the act itself but embedding it in a storyline.

Some ever-recurring backdrops and characters are established early on: the world of monasteries and cloisters with their holy priests, nuns and dogs; the infidel Christian in the oriental harem; the musketeer seeking food, drink and love at the inn; the strict school mistress and her naughty pupils…. The marriage of narrative and amatory art on screen brings forth some strange blossoms very early on. From ethnology to history to educational films, from homo- and hetero- to zoophilia, every type of genre and preference is addressed. It almost seems as though the modern porn industry only acts as a footnote to its silent precursors.

On the occasion of the Porny Days at Kino Roland, the Institute of Incoherent Cinematography has compiled a selection of mainly American and French sex flicks from the silent film era. All of them feature 'adult content' and will be shown alongside new, specially created and equally x-rated live musical performances.