Los Angeles, CA – Continuing to expand its international co-production activities, WOWOW announced that it is partnering with Sundance Productions on Isabella Rossellini’s Green Porno Live – documenting the stage version of Rossellini’s award-winning and critically acclaimed Green Porno series. Asexuality, bisexuality, heterosexuality and homosexuality, it’s all happening in the animal kingdom and Isabella Rossellini brings it all to life on stage!
Kayo Washio, who runs WOWOW’s Los Angeles office, is executive producer with Sundance Productions’ Laura Michalchyshyn. Green Porno’s Jody Shapiro (Burt’s Buzz, How to Start Your Own Country) is directing with Rick Gilbert and Sundance Productions’ Molly O’Keefe producing. The editor of the Green Porno shorts, Seduce Me and Mammas, Stacey Foster is also returning to the project.
“This project has many great aspects, which are mixed with careful balance in this unique concept that is unlike anything we have seen before, and ideally suited for an age of multi-screen / multi-platform viewing,” said Kayo Washio. “Isabella Rossellini deserves a tremendous amount of praise for creating something that is so eye-catching and appealing to all demographics. Green Porno Live is a very intimate, family-like production and I feel honoured to be welcomed into this family, centered around Isabella.”
Washio added, “I’m also happy to be collaborating again with the Sundance Productions team. They have been amazing partners in the past and I always look forward to opportunities to work with them. This makes the production even more special.”
In Green Porno Live, Isabella brings her Green Pornos to the stage. This one woman show, based on her wildly popular short films Green Porno, Seduce Me & Mammas, has been performed internationally in France, Italy, the UK and Australia, and is currently on a domestic tour having performed in Brooklyn, Chicago, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Washington DC to name a few.
“Green Porno started as a little experiment for a two minute short film,” said Ms. Rossellini. “I would have never imagined that I would produce almost 40 short films, published a book , written a monologue with the great Jean-Claude Carriere and performed it in over 40 cities in 3 continents.”
Tackling some important issues through these quirky, hilarious, kinky, innovative films, Isabella has put a unique comedic spin on animals and marine life. Similar to her films, Isabella delves into the mating and sexual habits those animals, insects and marine life exhibit in nature.
This special is the portrait of an artist as she prepares for performances in different cities all over the world. It is the evolution of Isabella’s incredibly original Green Pornos from shorts to stage to documentary. We will follow her internationally, meet her fans, see how she prepares her costumes, works on the dialogue, and deals with the tech and logistical issues – all of which she controls. From cobble stone Piazzas, to small or large theatres to outdoor forums in Rome, viewers see her adapt to each location, the preparation leading up to the shows and her amazing fan base that comes out no matter how obscure the venue.
Green Porno Live touches on all of this and makes one wonder about “us” and our diversity. In a combination of costume changes, rear screen projection, puppetry and cheeky, comedic dialogue, Isabella teaches viewers about the extraordinary and always evolving world of the animal kingdom.
“The success of our endeavor is also a manifestation of a new interest in the environment, especially among the younger generations. I chose humor as my expression because many taboos or difficult subject matters such as environmental problems or sex and gender definitions are easier to address if we approach it with humor,” Ms. Rossellini adds. “Besides I love to laugh. It’s my favorite thing in the world and I am an entertainer”.
WOWOW retains Japanese rights to Green Porno Live, while U.S. rights are with Ovation TV. A 2015 broadcast date will be announced in the upcoming months. International sales company Forward Entertainment has also come on board.
WOWOW continues to produce original content and deliver the highest quality entertainment under the concept of their corporate message “new encounter as you watch.” Among the new documentary projects produced by WOWOW (with international co-production partners) are “Finding 1984” – a new documentary inspired by George Orwell’s dystopian political novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (sometimes published as 1984);Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi’s documentary “A 50 Year Argument;” “Cathedrals of Culture,” directed by Wim Wenders and Robert Redford; “Cameron Carpenter: The Rebirth of Majesty,” directed by Thomas Grube; and the new crowdsourced TV documentary “Sacred,” about humankind’s search for the divine, taking viewers on a spectacular journey through 365 days of spiritual life on Earth.
