1999 documentary film
| Sex: The Annabel Chong Story
|
|---|
 DVD cover
|
| Directed by
| Gough Lewis
|
|---|
| Written by
| Kelly Morris
|
|---|
| Produced by
|
- Gough Lewis
- Hugh F. Curry
|
|---|
| Starring
| Grace Quek
|
|---|
| Cinematography
|
- Gough Lewis
- James Michaels
- Kelly Morris
- Tony Morrone
|
|---|
| Edited by
| Kelly Morris
|
|---|
Production
companies
|
- Coffee House Films
- Greycat Releasing
- Omni International
|
|---|
| Distributed by
| Strand Releasing
|
|---|
Release dates
|
- January 1999
(
1999-01
)
(
Sundance
)
- February 11, 2000
(
2000-02-11
)
|
|---|
Running time
| 87 minutes
|
|---|
| Country
| United States
|
|---|
| Language
| English
|
|---|
| Box office
| $233,076
|
|---|
Sex: The Annabel Chong Story
is a 1999 American
documentary film
directed, filmed and produced by Canada-based producer Gough Lewis, edited by co-creator Kelly Morris, and produced by Peter Carr.
The film profiles pornographic film actor Grace Quek, a.k.a.
Annabel Chong
, then a
gender studies
student at the
University of Southern California
, famous for setting a
gang bang
record in January 1995. A video of the event was released under the title
The World's Biggest Gang Bang
.
[1]
After release, Quek criticised Lewis for misconstruing multiple events and portraying events in a "misleading" way, such as claiming to have 'returned' to the industry after going to Singapore or the fact that producer Lewis self-harmed off-camera.
[2]
Synopsis
[
edit
]
The documentary explores Quek's experiences, presenting her life as a student in
Los Angeles
,
California
and
London
; her native
Singapore
; and in the
porn industry
. It focuses on her reasons for working in porn, and her relationship with friends and family.
[3]
The documentary reveals that Quek was
gang raped
as a student living in London and describes her many complex emotional issues, including signs of
depression
,
self-harm
[3]
and
substance abuse
. The film also includes footage of a painful conversation in Singapore between Annabel and her mother, who, until then, didn't know about her daughter's porn career.
[3]
Response
[
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]
The documentary became a hit when it was released at the
Sundance Film Festival
, nominated for the Grand Jury Prize.
[4]
North American distribution was halted or minimized as a result of a court case in the Superior Court of Canada, as instigated by David Whitten, a
B-movie
distributor.
[5]
In
The Guardian
, Jonathan Romney (2000) wrote, "Quek's refusal to cohere as a subject is contingent on the fact that there's apparently no one looking at her: director Lewis is curiously absent, as either a character or as an invisible shaping intelligence. But he apparently was a character in her story: in interviews, Quek has denounced him for failing to reveal that he was her lover for a year during the making of
Sex
, something the film never even implies. That omission contributes to making the film incomplete, if not actually dishonest."
[6]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]