Cultural backdrop If porn is work that serves no purpose other than causing sexual arousal, then erotica is sexually explicit material that has artistic merit beyond its ability to arouse. Erotica, for that matter, need not even arouse. Sometimes the sex in an erotic story makes us laugh or cringe or cry. Where porn depends on its ability to inspire a physical response, erotica has something broader to say about human beings as sexual creatures whether it gets us off or not. While filmmakers have used the cinema to explore the subject of sex for many decades, the last few years have seen a breakthrough in terms of explicitness. Destricted seeks to harness these developing attitudes and trends by inviting artists, photographers and filmmakers whose work invokes sex, curiosity, desire and satisfaction in its own right, to make short films exploring this territory in a commercial context. Sex toys sold in supermarkets, the society swingers scenes, porn stars as cultural icons, sex scenes commonplace on TV and film - Nip and Tuck, Sex & the City, The Piano Teacher, The Dreamers, Nine Songs - all lead to new definitions of romance, relationships, monogamy & marriage. We're younger for longer in body and mind and see sex as an open, evolving discussion in our lives. The edge between implicit and explicit sex is blurring. Equally, the increasing synergy between film, video and the music industry and the innovation of technology and its price point has impacted the leisure, art and entertainment industry. The home cinema has become an interactive canvas on which to showcase our tastes and aspirations. With the convergence of content delivery, from DVD to cable, 3G to the web, not only do our appetites increase but so does the menu of possibilities. Prev l 1 l 2 l 3 l Next