Green Porno: Bon Appétit
Toronto International Film Festival Program Book
2009
Green Porno: Scandalous Sea
Isabella Rossellini, Jody Shapiro, Rick Gilbert, Andy Byers, Claudio Campagna
Curated by Noah Cowan and Francisco Alvarez
The incomparable Isabella Rossellini officially became a filmmaker a few years ago with My Father Is 100 Years Old, a surreal and spectacular collaboration with Guy Maddin. Many of us imagined that she would continue to explore her filmmaking after a career as a celebrated actress and model, and as a child of cinema titans. But noone could have imagined this most extraordinary project. By turns titillating, hilarious, delicately beautiful and shockingly educational, Green Porno is as singular as its creator.
First focusing on bugs and now with sea creatures, Rossellini has collaborated with a range of artists, filmmakers and scientists to create outrageous filmed performances, which are then repurposed in various clever ways. The work begins with the construction of elaborate paper sculptures and costumes (designed by Andy Byers) that represent the creatures as larger-than-life, vaguely expressionist but anatomically correct versions of themselves. She then places herself among them and begins a monologue, portraying herself as a covert operator within this bestial sculpture garden, a sexual predator (or victim) giving us the inside “scoop” on the intimate coital details of insects or marine life. Her monologues are almost always side-splittingly funny, frequently haunting in their metaphorical force and fill of information we might never have known (such as the size of a barnacle’s penis!) The direction and design—a collaboration with Maddin veterans Jody Shapiro and Rick Gilbert—is exquisite.
For Future Projections, Rossellini has partnered with the Royal Ontario Museum, Canada’s leading natural and social history museum, to make a magical installation out of the sea-creature films and sculptures. In the museum’s Spirit House, the many stunning paper models used in the project’s filming will be assembled will be assembled with a projection of Green Porno films nestled among them. It will be the first time the work is presented in an “immersive” context. In its effect, the sex creatures reclaim Rossellini, protecting the secrets her mouth reveals by surrounding her projected image. A touch menacing, the experience recalls the first childhood visit to a natural history museum, the awe and fear provoked by a growing stuffed tiger or a towering dinosaur. In those pre-sexual moments, we all become initiated into nature’s mysterious power, our innocence briefly and gloriously compromised. The title of the installation, Green Porno: Scandalous Sea, elicits the moments of shock and wonder that make these works oddly (and evocatively) personal for this enticing artist.
—Noah Cowan
Green Porno: Bon Appétit
Isabella Rossellini, Jody Shapiro
USA 2009
90 minutes Colour
Producers: Isabella Rossellini, Rick Gilbert, Jody Shapiro
Written by: Isabella Rossellini
Cinematography: Sam Levy
Production Designer: Andy Byers
Art Director: Rick Gilbert
Editor: Stacey Foster
Music: Andy Byers, Jeff Marshall, Lucas Oswald
Principal Cast: Isabella Rossellini, Claudio Campagna
Rossellini is also presenting these new world premiere sea-based Green Porno short films, as well as a longer-form documentary concerning the mating habits of elephant seals in their currently threatened environment. Taking place in one of our Festival cinemas, the presentation, Green Porno: Bon Appétit, will include an extensive on-stage discussion between Rossellini and marine biologist and conservationist Claudio Campagna. Their conversation will concern, according to Rossellini, “the importance of having collaborations between artists and scientists to create accessible pieces of art that can reach and educate a large audience, and marine life conservation issues.” Expect something between an ecological seminar and a night with Dr. Ruth on the sea.
I guarantee that the Festival has never before experienced anything quite like this.
—Noah Cowan