Festivals - Sundance Film Festival 2021 : Pleasure directed by Nina Thyberg will have its world premiere

By Mulder, 02 january 2021

Newly arrived Swedish transplant Bella Cherry coyly announces to an airport immigration official that she’s come to Los Angeles for “pleasure,” but upon her subsequent dive into the world of adult entertainment, she soon realizes it is clearly business. Though she warms to the friendly affirmations of the more seasoned girls, eager-but-green Bella relies on her instincts to navigate her experiences with predatory managers, male-dominated sets, and backbiting competitors.

Writer-director Ninja Thyberg returns to the Sundance Film Festival with Pleasure, a feature that extends the exploration of her 2014 short. Thyberg cunningly ties audiences’ experiences to Bella’s as the daring, immersive Pleasure uses its explicit portrayal to expose rather than titillate, offering a no-holds-barred worker’s-eye view of the industry. Leading a cast mined from the adult entertainment world, first-time actress Sofia Kappel fearlessly embodies a character who constantly renegotiates and recrafts her persona—from fresh-faced newcomer to boundary-pushing fetish performer to, finally, ascending queen—as a means of asserting her agency.

Contains graphic sexual content and sexual violence. Not suitable for audiences under 18.

Synopsis :
20-year-old Jessica leaves the small town life in Sweden for Los Angeles with the aim to become the worlds next big porn star but the road to her goal turns out to be bumpier than she imagined.

Pleasure (Sweden/Netherlands/France)
Directed by Ninja Thyberg
Produced by Eliza Jones, Markus Waltå, Erik Hemmendorff
Executive Producers : Pape Boye, Violaine Pichon
Co-Producers : Leontine Petit, Erik Glijnis, Frédéric Fiore, Eric Tavitian, Tomas Eskilsson, Anna Croneman
Written by Ninja Thyberg, Peter Modestij
Starring Sofia Kappel, Revika Anne Reustle, Evelyn Claire, Chris Cock, Dana DeArmond, Kendra Spade
Cinematography : Sophie Winqvist Loggins
Production Designer : Paula Loos
Costume Designer : Amanda Wing Yee
Makeup Department Head : Erica Spetzig
Edited by Amalie Westerlin Tjellesen, Olivia Neergaard-Holm
Sound Designers : Vincent Sinceretti, Evelien van der Molen
Distributed by Plattform Produktion
Release date : February 1, 2021 (Sundance)
Running time : 100 minutes

Premiere : feb. 1 - 6:00am // Second screening : feb. 2 - 4:00pm (local time)

(Source : press release)