Voici les films qui seront diffusés et présentés le vendredi 5 février lors de la soirée cinéma Kinky avec Carnivore. Ces informations nous ont été transmises par Swen, et sont en anglais, afin de ne pas dénaturer le texte ou les propos, nous avons choisi de le laisser en anglais.
SHORT FILM « My Element Water »
A documentary about a swimmer seeking challenges in her comfort element
The 25-year-old Madame A was a former long distance competive swimmer. Connected with water since she can remember, she now seeks to find her boundaries in the nurture of something so familiar. As breathing was the first thing she was taught to learn, she now meets for a challenge where it‘s being taken away. Her experience is reflected in an additional interview. A low-budget short film produced in Stuttgart, Germany. (Trigger warning: sensory deprivation, hypoventilation and waterborading)
Facts
Duration 20:47 Minutes / Language: English / Documentary / Starring: Madame A & Swen Brandy / Director/Writer/Producer/Video/Edit by Swen Brandy / Music: Magnutze / Support by Peppermind & Saara Rei
Low Budget Film – 100,00 €
My Element Water – Film Festivals 2021-2024
AWARD WINNER
2022 Award Winner – Fetish Film Festival, London (GB)
Category Best Short Documentary
2022 Award Winner – Bizarrya Short Film Festival, Porto (Portugal)
Category Best Erotic Short Film
2021 Award Winner – Hallucinea Film Festival – Paris, (France)
Category Best Experimental Film
2021 Award Winner – Porn Art Film Festival in Bolognia (Italy)
Category Best Short Documentary
Selected BDSM Film Festival – Barcelona (Esp) – 2024
Selected Fetish Film Festival – London, GB – 2023
Selected Glitch Festival – St. Gallen (Switzerland) – 2023
Selected Porn Film Festival Warsaw (Poland) – 2023
Selected EXCÉNTRICO Film Festival Santiago (Chile) – 2023
Selected Seattle SECS Film Festival (USA) – 2022
Selected Berlin PornFilmFestival (GER) – 2022
Selected San Francisco PornFilmFestival (USA) – 2022
Selected UNCENSORED – London Festival (GB) – 2022
Selected Porn Film Festival Brussels (Belgium) – 2022
Selected Porny Art Film Festival in Zürich (Switzerland) – 2022
Selected Porn Art Film Festival in Bolognia (Italy) – 2021
Selected Hacker Film Festival in Rome (Italy) – 2021
2022 Selected – Porn Film Festival, Berlin (Germany)
2022 Selected – Secs Fest, Seattle (USA)
2022 Selected – Porn Film Festival, San Francisco (USA)
2022 Selected – Uncesored Film Festival, London (GB)
2021 Selected – Porny Art Film Festival in Zürich (Switzerland)
2021 Selected – Porn Art Film Festival in Bolognia (Italy)
2021 Selected – Hacker Film Festival in Rome (Italy)
Jury Questions about My Element
What is your point of view regarding the experience shared with the swimmer?
In general, I really love to lead people through challenges and going with people to their own personal limits. So, when we came to this idea, I was very excited. And since I am experienced with waterboarding, I felt very confident that we could go through this challenge together. I am really interested in body language and how people react when they are in all kinds of situations: struggles, celebrations, and so on. Waterboarding is an intense situation, to say the least, and people can react in many ways depending on their background and life experiences. I was very curious to see how a swimmer, and water fetishist, would react when their body feels what they love turns slowly against them. There was never a point in the session where I felt scared or concerned from my side of the process; I did stay with Madam A.’s emotional journey throughout the session, and did my best to regulate what was happening based on how she was feeling. And then, of course, to empathize with her experience and stay focused to make sure it did not become my own, so that I can maintain my part of the practice. Such an intense practice requires an intense focus. And from a kink perspective, I also found it exciting. There was power play, sadomasochism, and bondage in our session; every letter was touched in BDSM. As well as fetish, with water for Madam A. and emotional reactions for me.
Why did you choose this controversial practice?
It would be really easy, in general, to choose a well-accepted BDSM practice that quickly brings a person into fear. Madam A. and I had the idea of starting with something that was very comfortable for her and then to find a way to slowly transform that comfort into discomfort, into fear, step-by-step. For her, as a swimmer, a comfortable starting place was water; not only is she comfortable in water, but she also has a water fetish! So water became our perfect starting place for us. And from there, to bring a human’s relationship to water from comfort to fear… Well, the fear of drowning is a natural direction to play on… and the practice for making a human feel like they are drowning without actually drowning is waterboarding. And so this controversial practice came to us naturally from there.
What are the precautions taken during the shooting of the short film?
Our starting point for precaution was that we both wanted to go into this experience together; our mutual consent, of course, serving as our starting point for building safety and trust. We had many talks together: about fears, motivation, and limits. Madam A. also went through a full physical and mental exam by a doctor to make sure there were no points of contention in her health. She was healthy, fit, and mentally sound. As well, I made sure that I was in a good place physically and mentally and that I had the skills and experience needed to lead us through this journey. I am a trained paramedic and am experienced in waterboarding, both in theory and practice. So, I felt very comfortable with designing this experience. I took common precautions, like having a knife on hand fit for cutting the ropes and fabric that restricted her breathing, I had the numbers of the hospital on hand, and we had a solid set of words, sounds, and gestures that we decided together to help us communicate during the whole process. We also made sure to take breaks and have time together where we are both clearly out of the session, so that we could check in with each other to make sure we kept both consenting to moving forward with each step.
Are there any measures to minimize the risk of heart attack?
Like most BDSM practices that put a lot of stress on the body and mind, a heart attack, panic attack, or visceral reaction can always be possible. The first measure, then, when starting any intense BDSM practice is to make sure that all parties involved are aware of this. And then it is important that we both check in with ourselves and our health to make sure that neither of us are at high risk for a heart attack (imagine if I had a heart attack during the session… it also would not end well for either of us when she is tied up; it is important to think of these details). Since we both had a physical exam before the process, we both felt confident that our risk for a heart attack was low. From there, it was then important to make sure we didn’t go to a place where Madam A. would not go into a shock or have an extremely elevated heart rate. With that, it was important to go slow, break the session up into many steps where we had breaks and time to connect and consider what we were doing, and to keep checking in on our pulse and state of mind during the session. As a trained paramedic, I also felt confident in handling the situation if something were to happen and to have the sound mind to do what needs to be done to help Madam A. and also to call for help if needed. No movie or experience is worth the well-being of any individual; and so there was no doubt in either of our minds to stop if things became too much.“ Swen Brandy CARNIVORE
Your mind is your challenge
For me, photography primarily means working with a person rather than just capturing an image. The focus is not on arranging the setting or the person, but rather on the mental state and experience of the model. I aim to immerse them in a mood where they can let go and reveal a side of themselves that differs from their everyday life. To achieve this, I guide them through scenarios that compel them to open up.
I relish working with a person’s mindset. By introducing certain stimuli, the scene suddenly becomes real. Depending on the model’s preferences, these scenarios can encompass desire, pain, dominance, physical and mental constraints, as well as various kinds of challenges. I offer them the opportunity to explore their limits by gradually leading them from their comfort zone to the edge. I start slowly and incrementally intensify the experience until they reach the brink of self-control and, consequently, the state of letting go. My preferred method of inducing this state is by creating challenges. Depending on the individual, this might involve enduring high impact, intense pain or other stimuli, undertaking a difficult task, confronting fear or discomfort, imposing rigorous physical or mental restrictions, or a combination of these approaches. Of course, such an experience is negotiated before the shoot: there’s an extensive conversation about how intense the scenario might become, and individual boundaries are respected, with the option to exit at any time.
During such scenarios, most people undergo an expansion of their boundaries: while initially struggling with the situation, they gradually adapt until they let go. This often leads them to handle a higher level of intensity than they initially anticipated. They discover that they can surpass their presumed limits and that « the end » isn’t actually the end. This marks the moment when ataraxia sets in.
In my photos and video clips, I capture the states that individuals go through when experiencing such scenarios. This creates a specific mood, body language, and genuine emotions.
Swen Brandy CARNIVORE
Consent
« All individuals appearing in this film were legal adults at the time in which the film an photos were taken. All actions were consensual for amongst all participants; consent negotiations were conducted with all participate in a sober, clear-minded state, without any time pressure. Participants willingly pushed their boundaries, fully aware of any risks involved. Participants were informed about all exit options and had the right and ability to terminate any action at any time. Warm-ups, cooldowns, and aftercare were negotiated and provided. As well, scenes and individual boundary exploration were discussed amongst all participants, in a feedback conversation afterwards in order to further understand ourselves, our actions, and to process the experiences.”
Selected BDSM Film Festival – Barcelona (Esp) – 2024
Has been screened in several countries and kink spaces as educational and educational material
Press about « My Element Water »
Presse:Nocturno Italy
November 18, 2021
Inside P*rn: in Bologna, November 25th
An evening dedicated to the screening of erotic prn short films by Inside Prn
Review about the Shortfilm
« My Element Water » from Swen Brandy
Sea, sea, sea, I want to drown
Take me far away to be shipwrecked
Away, away, away from these shores ..
« I am a swimmer, and therefore I am very familiar with the aquatic element: today we are here to test my limits ». If we had to choose a moment of cinema that exemplifies the trajectory of the 2021 edition of I have a porn it would be this candid stripping by the protagonist A, with which My Element Water by Swen Brandy opens. Personal stripping, subjective, but which, as in the best political cinema, goes beyond the screen and the singularities to make us the public feel the same cold on the skin. In the same way, the short film is not only a wonderful little essay on the unheimlich, capable of riding the invisible slope between terror and excitement when the earth that we believed to be stable collapses under our feet to reveal itself to be terra incognita; it is an implicit declaration on the expressive possibilities of pornography when challenged in the opposite sense from the mainstream logic, not for the handle in a projective and distancing key, but for the blade, tearing the palms of the hands to look inside. If the controlled use of practices such as waterboarding become a vehicle for identity explorations capable of cutting the umbilical cord of our fixed points, borrow the elementary metaphor provided by Brandy’s film and expand it to the rest of the selection signed Inside Porn.>
Nocturno Magazine, Italy
https://www.nocturno.it/ce-lho-porno-a-bologna-il-25…/
CE L’HO CORTO FILM FESTIVAL 2021
SHORT FILM : IMAGETHUNDER
« The dialogue-free, documentary-style clip showcases Swen Brandys’ past work and artistic approach through snippets of seconds, unveiling the method of Playshooting. ImageThunder is highly intense, intimate, and not intended for the faint-hearted. It captures mental and psychological challenges, moments of pleasure, pain, humiliation, tough and sweet challenges, all focused on the experience of stepping out of one’s comfort zone and exploring new boundaries. The contents of ImageThunder are spontaneous, raw, unvarnished, and far from mainstream aesthetics. »
Disclaimer:
This film contains scenes of intense violence, sexual depictions, and other potentially disturbing content. The depicted scenes may be perceived as disturbing or distressing and are not suitable for sensitive viewers. Viewing this material is at your own discretion. Viewers who may be emotionally affected by such content should refrain from watching the clip.
Disclaimer:
Caution: This content contains a high rate of rapid image sequences that could trigger seizures in some individuals with epilepsy. Persons with epilepsy or a susceptibility to light-induced seizures may consider avoiding viewing this material. Viewing is at your own risk.
