Anna Span
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| Anna Arrowsmith | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1972 Kent |
| Nationality | British |
| Other names | Anna Span |
| Website | |
| http://www.annaspansdiary.com/ | |
Anna Arrowsmith (born 1972 in Kent), who works under the pseudonym Anna Span, is an English pornographic film director.[1] She is also a public speaker on sex, pornography, and feminism.[2]
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[edit] Early life
She was born and raised in Kent, the daughter of finance director Clive Thompson. She is a graduate of the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in Fine Art (Film & Video).[1] Her films are female-friendly based on her ideas first outlined in her 1997 dissertation 'Towards a New Pornography'.[citation needed]
[edit] Career
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She had her first film aired in 1999 on UK porn channel Television X and has made over 165 scenes to date.[2]
Her films focus on women enjoying sex including lesbian sex and heterosexual sex, with some bisexual sex. Other themes include sex toys, everyday objects (such as a chocolate bar or orange) being used as sex aids, threesomes, group sex and gang bangs. Role playing and fantasy are also common. Sometimes a character from one of her films appears in another. There is a big emphasis on reality both in script and actor performances. In her films she includes a much higher than average percentage of shots which look at the men[citation needed], which she has termed 'female point of view' shots.
Arrowsmith was the 2007/8 and 2008/9 Best Director at the UK Adult Film & TV Awards, where she also won four other awards for her DVD "Hug a Hoodie". She won Best British Film Brand at The UK's trade awards - the ETO Awards in 2008. In 2007 she won 'Indie Porn Pioneer' at The International Emma Feminist Porn Awards, in Toronto. Her film Be My Toy Boy was nominated for best Film at the 2009 ETO Awards.
In September 2007, she was the focus of a TV documentary entitled "Sex Films For Girls", made by Five, which captured her views on pornography and her film approach and featured on-set filming during the making of a film. Her father also appeared in the documentary, expressing a negative view of pornography but a very supportive view of his daughter.
She identifies sexually as bisexual.[3] and has said, "I'm bi and looking at two women together turns me on."[4]
She has given talks about pornography and feminism in various countries, for example at universities or film festivals[citation needed]. She has been a regular columnist of The Daily Sport newspaper and the British women's sex magazine Scarlet. She has been an active member of Feminists Against Censorship since the late 90s[citation needed].
| Title | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Eat Me/Keep Me | 1999 | First film |
| Pound a Punnet | 2003 | Street market theme |
| Uniform Behaviour | 2003 | Uniform fetish |
| Toy With Me | 2003 | |
| Take This Down | 2004 | |
| Hoxton Honey | 2004 | Set in Hoxton area of London |
| A and O Department | 2005 | Medical fetish |
| Hand of the Law | 2006 | Police |
| Hug a Hoodie | 2007 | Working class/chav/hoodie theme |
| Southwark Sugar | 2007 | Set in Southwark area of London |
| Be My Toy Boy | 2009 |
[edit] United Kingdom general election, 2010
Arrowsmith was the Liberal Democrat candidate for Gravesham in Kent for the 2010 general election.[5] Conservative Adam Holloway held on to the seat by a considerable margin; Arrowsmith increased the Liberal Democrat vote share by more than the regional average, but remained in third place behind Labour.[6]
She explained her move into politics in The Observer.[7] Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said "It's not exactly my cup of tea what she's been doing before she has put herself forward in parliament but I also think it's really important that people like her who really care a lot about her local area are encouraged to come into politics. You can't accuse her of being a cardboard cut-out Westminster politician."[8]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Wilkes, David (12 March 2010). "'From porn to Parliament': Woman adult film-maker to be election candidate (surprise, surprise, she's a Lib Dem)". London: www.dailymail.co.uk. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1257210/Porn-film-director-Anna-Arrowsmith-selected-Lib-Dem-Parliamentary-candidate.html. Retrieved 2010-03-13.
- ^ a b "Anna Span", ShowStudio, http://showstudio.com/contributors/5885, retrieved 2007-09-17
- ^ AJ (2007-01-24), "Anna Span", Strictlynews.com, http://www.strictlynews.com/sbn/live/interviews/directors/annaspan.html, retrieved 2007-09-17
- ^ "interview". Lovegirls.co.uk. http://lovegirls.co.uk/articlecomments/57/Anna+Span+Likes+To+Watch/. Retrieved 2010-04-08.
- ^ "Female porn director to fight Parliament seat in Kent", BBC, 2010-03-12, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/8563214.stm
- ^ "2010 Election Results: Gravesham", BBC, 2010-05-11, http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/election2010/results/constituency/b87.stm
- ^ "Why I've gone from porn to politics, Anna Arrowsmith ''The Observer'', Sunday 14 March 2010". London: Guardian. 2010-03-14. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/14/anna-arrowsmith-pornography-politics. Retrieved 2010-04-08.
- ^ Mulholland, Helene (2010-03-12). "Nick Clegg defends former porn director standing for Lib ''The Guardian'', Friday 12 March 2010". London: Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/mar/12/nick-clegg-defends-former-porn-director-anna-arrowsmith. Retrieved 2010-04-08.
[edit] External links
- Anna Arrowsmith's candidate site for Gravesham http://www.annaforgravesham.org.uk/
- Anna's site has VOD of all her films at http://www.annaspansdiary.com
- Anna's brand new toy site with the sex toy infomercials at http://www.annaspansextoys.com
- Easy on the Eye - Production company web site, including her early works. Note: this does not appear to have been updated since 2004 (see www.annaspansdiary.com for newer site).
- Lovegirls.co.uk interview
- Anna Span at the Internet Movie Database
- An interview with Anna Span and other film directors on the Amsterdam Alternative Erotic Film Festival 2009: http://www.mailfemale.tv/ratedx/ratedx.html
