YO PUTA (Whore)

YO PUTA (Whore)
Luna
Spain / 2004 / 100 min / 35mm / Color / English & Spanish

THE STORY
" Prostitute." "Whore." "Ho." "Hustler." Whatever you want to call them, members of the world's oldest profession contend with the same age-old issues no matter where they are across the globe. Director Luna's creative take on Isabel Pisano's book of first-hand accounts of a diverse group of prostitutes -- from a high-class French call girl, to an African to a former Puerto Rican police officer -- provocative, stylish, and fascinating. In a surreal documentary style, filmed vignettes spoken directly to the camera by prostitutes and johns are interwoven with a fictional storyline about a journalism student (Denise Richards) and her aspiring actress neighbor (Daryl Hannah).

Fascinated by the sex trade, the journalist searches for potential interviewees for her book, discovering in the process that her neighbor is a prostitute. Whore's inventive and engaging narrative includes dreamy, stylized recreations of the book's accounts juxtaposed with real documentary footage that touches on issues of money, violence, and porn acting versus prostituting. The intriguing candor of the accounts hinges on the self-assured testimonials of many of the subjects, who understand their trade and their place in society, with many finding what they do empowering, secure, and quite often lucrative. Though the subject may seem titillating on the surface, Luna has managed to construct an exceedingly original movie that uses pop culture elements to take these stories usually reserved for the underground into the mainstream.

Director: Luna; Producer: Jose Magan; Screenwriters: Adela Ibañez, Isabel Pisano; Cinematographer: Ricardo Aronovich; Original Music: Javier Navarrete; Editor: Bernat Vilaplana <http://pro.imdb.com/name/nm1253632/>
Production Designer: Alain Bainee; Sound Department: Ferran Mengod <http://pro.imdb.com/name/nm1079680/> ; Cast: Daryl Hannah, Denise Richards, Joaquim de Almeida; Contact: Jose Magan, DOLORES PICTURES, c/o MARTINEZ CUBELLS, 10 5° Piso PUERTA 14, Valencia, 46002, Phone: [phone], Fax: 34 96 352 44 05, [e-mail]

THE DIRECTOR
Stranded (2002), Luna's first feature, starred Vincent Gallo, Joaquim de Almeida, and María de Medeiros, and was shot by well-known cinematographer Ricardo Aronovich at Hollywood's Panavision Studios and on the island of Lanzarote. It screened at more than a dozen film festivals worldwide, including San Sebastian and Brussels. Stranded was audience runner-up at the FIC Brasilia and won the Silver Bat Award at the Rome Fantafestival. Her second film, Whore, based on the Isabel Pisano novel, confronts prostitution from a realistic and contemporary point of view. Luna faces this new challenge with high expectations and with new techniques in visual effects and editing.

This film will preceded by:
REWIND
Christina Garner
USA / 2004 / 3 min / DVD / Color / English

As her husband heads to war in Iraq, a young wife exacts a promise that he will return home safely. Will that promise be all she has left?

Director, Producer, Writer: Christina Garner; Cinematographer: David Jackson Willis; Picture Editor: Alan Waserman; Principal Cast: Sharon Maines, Justin Stiles; Contact: Christina Garner,
cWc Film, 1943 1⁄2 Holly Drive, Hollywood, CA 90068, 818-692-6645 Cell, [e-mail]


Sunday, November 7, 7:00pm, Parker Playhouse, P-2304

Sponsored by:

Special Guest: Christina Garner (Rewind), Luna, Josa Magan (YO PUTA)