Welcome to “Art’s World” on www.nightovesonline.com. I’ll be doing this feature a couple of times a week covering both adult and non adult subjects. You will get a smorgasbord of subjects, thoughts, ideas and views on a wide variety of topics, some fun things, and stories in the news, etc. I hope you enjoy this feature. I look forward to your comments and feedback.

Hundreds of movies are done by mainstream Hollywood every year. Hundreds of porn movies are done by our industry every year. But aside from the obvious, there is one glaring difference between the two and that one major difference is the continued absence of female directors. This is where mainstream could learn, and take a very big lesson from the adult industry. The Academy Awards have been around since 1929 and in all that time, 88 years, only two female directors have ever been nominated for an Oscar, Lina Wertmüller for ‘Seven Beauties’ in 1976 and Jane Campion for ‘The Piano’ in 1993, and neither of them won.

Now, in 2017, with “Wonder Woman” you have one of the highest grossing movies (as of this writing over $720 million) and also the highest grossing film ever directed by a female, passing 2008’s “Mamma Mia” that was directed by Phyllida Lloyd. Directed by Patty Jenkins “Wonder Woman” has received tremendous accolades, reviews and comments from critics and fans alike earning high marks from every corner of the industry. It was one of the best superhero movies I have ever seen. With all that being said will Ms. Jenkins name be among the nominees for a Best Director Oscar next year, or the film for Best Picture? Probably not, and that would be a total shame. The reason is two fold, first the obvious one, she is a woman in Hollywood. Despite what they may say about their industry wanting to get more women behind the cameras, Hollywood is still the good old boys network. Second, rarely does a film that comes out this early in the year even get remembered at Oscar voting time regardless of its success when it comes to the big prizes like Best Director, Best Film, Best Actress, etc. It may get nods for the technical categories which are fine, but when it comes to the ones that really count, it will, unfortunately, be nowhere to be found. I truly hope that the academy proves me wrong when they present the Oscars in March 2018..

One the other hand, the AVN, XRCO and NightMoves Awards have been around 34, 33 and 25 years respectively and over that period of time female directors have been awarded for the great work they do many times by all three groups. Today in the adult industry there are a number of female directors who turn out award nominated and award winning top quality productions year after year. Stormy Daniels, Jacky St. James, Dana Vespoli, Joanna Angel and Kay Brandt quickly come to mind for the excellent work they do behind the camera. These ladies don’t have the multi million dollar budgets to work with, and film crews of a hundred or more, but they turn out terrific films that take days, and even weeks to shoot. They scout locales and settings, costuming, and all that goes into a first rate production like mainstream. For the most part because of their talents, their crews, their casts and the backing and encouragement of the video company, they pull it off expertly.

The adult industry encourages, rather than discourages women to learn their craft behind the camera. To that end you now see current performers like Kendra Lust, Kayden Kross, Angela White and others working from the director’s chair as well as being in front of the camera and creating solid productions. It is also heartening to know there are a few young porn performers who are studying film in college with their eye on the future and eventually be able to work in some capacity behind the camera one day.

Another important factor that comes into play with both mainstream and adult is the film fan that spends their money at the theater or video store. They don’t care if the director of a film is male or female. All they want is quality, good performances and worthwhile entertainment for their hard earned dollars. In adult you will continue to see the emergence of more females going behind the camera as well as other important areas behind the scenes.

 In mainstream Hollywood, even with the phenomenal success of Patty Jenkins and “Wonder Woman” I doubt that it will lead to bigger changes where women are concerned. I would hope someone will have the smarts to follow the lead of women like Lina Wertmuller, Jane Campion and Patty Jenkins and finally come to the realization that gender has absolutely nothing to do with having the best director in the chair for a film that takes months to shoot and costs a studio hundreds of millions of dollars. It is 2017 and time for Hollywood to learn a big lesson from the porn industry and wake up!

Art Koch, National Features & DVD Editor, NightMoves Magazine and AAN