Fetish Films #1: "Celluloid Scopophilia: The Sensual Dimensions of the Human Body" September 29, 2009

For Immediate Release

Event: Oddball Films presents Fetish Films #1: “Celluloid Scopophilia: Sensual Dimensions of the Human Body”, a program of rare medical and industrial films inspired by the writings of Wilhelm Stekel, author of “Sadism and Masochism” and “Patterns of Psychosexual Infantilism”. The program is curated by filmmaker Kerry Laitala and Oddball Films Director Stephen Parr. “Celluloid Scopophilia” focuses on the fetishization of the human body and includes films such as “Pain and Its Alleviation” “Shock”, “Breathing For Others”, Laitala’s own “Hallowed” and underground fetish films.
Date: Friday, April 13th at 8:30PM
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco.
Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating, RSVP Only. Adults Only!
Reservations: [email protected] or 415.558.8117



Fetish Films #1:

“Celluloid Scopophilia:
Sensual Dimensions of the Human Body”
Screens at Oddball Films

On Friday, April 13th at 8:30PM Oddball Films presents Fetish Films #1: “Celluloid Scopophilia: Sensual Dimensions of the Human Body”, the first in a series of film programs examining the fetishization of the human body. The program is curated by Oddball Films Director Stephen Parr and filmmaker/cinema historian Kerry Laitala. All films will be screened in 16mm film. Admission is $10.00. Seating is limited. RSVP is essential. Oddball Films is located at 275 Capp Street, San Francisco.
“Celluloid Scopophilia” is a cinema program inspired by the writings of Wilhelm Stekel, author and contemporary of Sigmund Freud who postulated that all fetishes are a regressive form of Infantilism.

In his books “Sadism and Masochism” and “Patterns of Psychosexual Infantilism”, Stekel presents many case studies of paraphilias and their causes.
This program investigates this and includes rare medical films such as “Pain and Its Alleviation” (Color, 1961) and Oral Hygiene films such as the Technicolor Danish, English co-production “Es Leight Ans Dir”(1951), later dubbed in German (1951), industrial First aid films such as “Shock” and “Breathing For Others”(1955), outtakes from “Obsession”, an adult film shot in San Francisco in the 80s starring Jamie Gillis, and underground foot fetish films. The program will conclude with the viscerally compelling “Hallowed” (2001), a hand-made film by Laitala, a filmmaker and long time collector of obscure and disturbing medical and industrial films. In “Celluloid Scopophilia”: “The program treads the lines between visual pleasure and pain in the context of Scopophila, (the pleasure of looking). Through the camera's gaze, the pleasure imparted by the extraction and isolation of body parts is explored and dwelled upon, sucking the viewer into this seductive, unseemly form of cinema” says Laitala. “Stephen and I have sequenced the program to make the resonance between the films vibrate with a pervy frequency”.

Together with Laitala’s films and a treasure trove of unseen and recently unearthed medical films Oddball Films Director Stephen Parr has obtained “Celluloid Scopophilia: Sensual Dimensions of the Human Body” promises to be a disturbing, darkly humorous and ultimately fascinating look at the human body in all its fetishistic glory.

For further information, still images and interviews contact Stephen Parr at 415.558.8117 or [email protected]

Official Website: http://oddballfilm.com/resources/events_parent.html