Swedish government funds feminist porn

The Swedish government plans to fund pornography through a series of cultural subsidies valued at SEK 350,000 according to reports in The Local, a Swedish newspaper. A female director will be shooting “queer, feminist pornography” using mobile phones as part of a Swedish cultural initiative.

The film will be entitled Dirty Diaries and was inspired by Mia Engberg, a feminist documentary film maker. Engberg was responsible for the films Manhood, Bitch & Butch and Selma & Sofie.

Manhood, which came out in 1999, is a film set in San Francisco which looks at gender bending. Bitch & Butch, released in 2003 explored the possibility of feminist pornography, a concept made real with the new grant from the Swedish government.

Engberg has some experience in the erotic film industry, having filmed Selma & Sofie in 2001, the first erotic film made in Sweden by women.

Anne-Marie Söhrman Ferm advised the Swedish Film Institute on which films to fund this year. “For me it’s an examination of erotic film from a totally different perspective; a feminist perspective,” she said. “I think it’s a very exciting project with clearly artistic ambitions.”

Six other films received funding from the Swedish Film Institute in addition to Dirty Diaries. The subsidies totalled SEK 2.1 million.

Engberg, who was born in Stockholm and who is known for her work playing with Vagina Grande, a feminist ska/punk band, was unable to comment on the grant as she was working on a film in Paris.