Sex: The Annabel Chong Story is a 1999 documentary film directed, filmed, and produced by Canada-based producer Gough Lewis, edited by co-creator Kelly Morris, [1] and produced by Peter Carr.
The film profiles porn star Annabel Chong (born Grace Quek), then a gender studies student at the University of Southern California, who was also a pornographic actress 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 . [2]
After the film's release, Quek criticised Lewis for misconstruing multiple events in the film and portraying events in a "misleading" way. [3]
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. [4]
The documentary reveals to the viewers that she was gang raped as a student living in London and describes her many complex emotional issues, including signs of depression, self-harm, [4] 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. [4]
The documentary became a hit when it was released at the Sundance Film Festival, nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. [5]
The film's North American release was halted or minimized as a result of a court case in the Superior Court of Canada instigated by David Whitten, a B-movie distributor. [6]
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."
Grace Quek, known professionally as Annabel Chong, is a Singaporean former pornographic actress who became famous after starring in an adult film that was promoted as The World's Biggest Gang Bang. The film was commercially successful and started a trend of "record-breaking" gang bang pornography. Four years later, Quek was the subject of the documentary Sex: The Annabel Chong Story, in which she was interviewed about her pornography career. She retired from the adult industry completely in 2003 and as of 2001, works as a web developer.
The World's Biggest Gang Bang is a pornographic film staged in a Hollywood studio starring Annabel Chong and billed as her having sex with 300 men. In reality, the participants were far fewer than advertised. They are said to have engaged with Chong in a total of 251 sex acts. The event was organized by pornographic film director John T. Bone.
A gang bang is a sexual activity in which one person is the central focus of the sexual activity of several people, usually more than three, sequentially or simultaneously. The term generally refers to a woman being the focus; one man with multiple women can be referred to as a "reverse gang bang". The term has become associated with the porn industry and usually describes a staged event whereby a woman has sex with several men in direct succession. Bukkake is a type of gang bang originating in Japan that focuses on the central person being ejaculated upon by male participants.
Robert D. Zicari, also known as Rob Black, is an American pornographer, entrepreneur, podcaster and professional wrestling promoter. Together with his then-wife Janet "Lizzy Borden" Romano, he owned the porn company Extreme Associates. Zicari was prosecuted for distribution of obscenity by the United States Department of Justice in 2004. The case was dismissed but was reinstated upon appeal in 2005. Zicari entered into a plea agreement with the government in 2009, ending the case.
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Kimberly Halsey, known professionally as Houston, is an American pornographic actress. She was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame in 2004 and into the XRCO Hall of Fame in 2015. Houston once held the gangbang record by having sex 620 times over the course of 8 hours.
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John Gilbert Bowen was a British pornographic movie director who used the name John T. Bone. He is best known for directing two large gang bang movies: World's Biggest Gang Bang in 1995 starring Annabel Chong, and World's Biggest Gang Bang II in 1996 starring Jasmin St. Claire.
Darren Stein is an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer who grew up in the San Fernando Valley. Among his works include the documentary Put the Camera on Me, the 2010 horror comedy All About Evil, and the satirical major motion picture Jawbreaker - which was deemed a "cult classic" by the New York Post, and is still referenced today in mainstream sources.
Kids in America is a 2005 American comedy film written and directed by Josh Stolberg. The film is inspired by real events.
Tabloid is a 2010 American documentary film directed by Errol Morris. It tells the story of Joyce McKinney, who in 1977 was accused of kidnapping and raping Kirk Anderson, an American Mormon missionary. The incident, known as the Mormon sex in chains case, became a major tabloid story in the United Kingdom and triggered a circulation battle between two popular tabloid newspapers, the Daily Mirror and the Daily Express.
Lovelace is a 2013 American biographical drama film centered on porn actress Linda Lovelace, star of Deep Throat, a landmark 1972 film at the forefront of the Golden Age of Porn. Lovelace covers her life from age 20 to 32.
Remy LaCroix is an American pornographic actress. She has won numerous awards, including the 2013 AVN Award for Best New Starlet and the 2014 AVN Award for Best Actress. She retired from professional shooting in 2016.
Kink is a 2013 American documentary film produced by James Franco about the BDSM website Kink.com. The film was originally released in January 2013 and had a staggered release worldwide in 2013 and 2015.
Miriam Weeks, known by her stage name of Belle Knox, is an American former pornographic film actress. She is known for performing in pornography while studying at Duke University.
Hot Girls Wanted is a 2015 American documentary film directed by Jill Bauer and Ronna Gradus. The film follows the lives of several 18- and 19-year-old pornographic actresses. The film premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and was released on Netflix on May 29, 2015.
Chris Moukarbel is an American director and producer. He is best known for his 2017 film Gaga: Five Foot Two, a critically acclaimed documentary about American singer-songwriter Lady Gaga.
On the Record is a 2020 American documentary film directed by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering. It centers on allegations of sexual abuse and harassment against hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons. Executive producer Oprah Winfrey publicly withdrew from the film shortly before it was released, citing "creative differences", severing a production deal with Apple TV+. The film premiered at Sundance on January 25, 2020, and was acquired by HBO Max, which released it digitally on May 27, 2020.
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