SNAPSHOT is a complex and moving film about the identity/life of a queer woman of color.
Oh, and it’s porn.
It’s rare to find porn with a storyline. It’s even more rare to find porn made for queer women of color. So finding narrative-driven porn centering on the sexual experiences of queer women of color? Impossible.
SNAPSHOT is changing that.
This movie is more than straightforward porn. It’s a murder mystery. It’s a coming out story. It’s an introspective indie movie.
The official summary reads:
A freelance photographer and woman about town, Charlie has her sights set on Danny, an older butch in search of adventure and romance. Just as things are about to click, Charlie accidentally snaps a photo of a murder. and becomes his new target. With a killer hot on her trail — and a new relationship developing — will Charlie find love… or her own demise?
Despite its dense plot, SNAPSHOT places sexuality front and center. It bills itself as both an “erotic suspense thriller” and a “sex-positive, queer porn production.” Over the course of the film, a woman named Danny begins to explore her sexuality with a younger butch lesbian. Meanwhile, the murder mystery unfolds, wrapping Danny and her lover in distress as they wrap each other in their arms.
In traditional porn, sex drives the narrative, if there is a narrative. In SNAPSHOT, the narrative drives the sex – and there is a lot of sex. Unlike in porn and in films like Blue is the Warmest Color and Boogie Nights, the sex in SNAPSHOT is not choreographed. The result is a natural, honest depiction of queer sexuality.
SNAPSHOT is also notable because it includes butch-on-butch sex scenes. Even in LGBT films, depictions of butch/butch relationships are rare; sex scenes are unheard of. Mainstream media tells us that butch bodies are undesirable, even repulsive in their rejection of hypersexualized femininity.
For SNAPSHOT to not only explore a butch/butch relationship but also depict its raw sexuality is a leap forward for queer cinema.
Who’s the powerhouse behind this film? Shine Louise Houston is a queer woman of color and award-winning filmmaker who has directed queer feminist porn in The Crashpad Series.
She takes inspiration from Hitchcock’s Rear Window and Antonioni’s Blow Up. And she’s paving the way for other queer artists to explore the porn industry.
Interested? Learn more at SNAPSHOT’s official website and donate to the Indie GoGo campaign to make this film a reality.
