|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
|||
 |
Liz Canner's Feature Documentary
ORGASM INC. begins when filmmaker Liz Canner is hired to edit erotic videos to be used in a drug trial for a pharmaceutical company. Her employer is developing what they hope will be the first FDA approved "Viagra" drug for women that will treat a new disease: Female Sexual Dysfunction (FSD). Intrigued, Liz decides to make a movie about the science of female pleasure. But she soon begins to suspect that her employer, along with other medical and pharmaceutical companies, might be trying to take advantage of women (and potentially endanger their health) in pursuit of profit. With unique access and a deft style of interviewing, Liz embarks on a nine year odyssey as she follows pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers who are racing to be the first to win FDA approval for their product - be it pill, patch, nose spray, or some other delivery device. The promised cure: "normal" sexual function and orgasm. The prize: billions of dollars in profits. Despite its serious agenda, Canner brings wry humor to her film. Featuring illuminating footage and interviews with activists, doctors and medical experts (including Chicago-based sex therapist Dr. Laura Berman, whose new show will debut on the Oprah Winfrey Network), ORGASM INC. is a powerful, timely and, yes, entertaining look inside Big Pharma and other medical companies with their often misleading marketing campaigns that literally and figuratively reshape our everyday lives. Upbeat, engaging, enlightening, and provocative, ORGASM INC. will change the way you think about sex.
"An extraordinary and revelatory documentary about female desire and the pharmaceutical industry." "A serious, but sometimes comical look at the medicalization of women's sexuality." "A desperately needed antidote to all the hype generated by pharmaceutical companies "A shocking but hilarious film which is causing a storm in America as it sets out to expose the drug companies and doctors who are now locked in a race to produce a 'female Viagra'." "A sexy indictment of big pharma that gives a lot of great laughs."
ORGASM INC. is award-winning director Liz Canner's first feature documentary. Canner was recently named one of the top ten independent filmmakers to watch in 2009 by The Independent Magazine and honored with a Visionary Award from Dartmouth College for the movie. Since earning her BA with Honors from Brown University in 1991, she has received more than 45 awards, honors and grants for her innovative documentary projects on human rights issues. Canner's documentaries have been broadcast on PBS, cable stations and internationally in many countries. They have screened at festivals like The New York Film Festival and the Human Rights Watch Film Festival. For her contribution to the field, Canner has been honored with a Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (Bunting) Fellowship from Harvard University and a Rockefeller Foundation Next Generation Leadership Fellowship. First Run Features has been a leading indie film distributor since 1979. Last year the company celebrated its 30th Anniversary with a retrospective at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Recent releases include Joe Berlinger's CRUDE, the Academy Award-nominated documentary THE MOST ORGASM INC. Press materials are available at: firstrunfeatures.com/orgasminc_press.html |
|
|
Liz Canner's shocking yet entertaining documentary ORGASM INC. explores the strange science of female pleasure, and in the process reveals the often warped mentality of our pharmaceutical and medical industries.
