A Year in Review: 2019

Time for another end of year recap! Easier said than done. Each year seems to whiz past faster than the one before it and keeping tabs on the highlights has become difficult. I find myself scrolling through my calendar or social media feed for clues and recollections of what exactly happened over the months. It’s a good problem to have, a side-effect of being busy! Much of my day-to-day is spent working behind the scenes at Pink and White Productions. (And as if my own timeline feels busy enough, PW’s are quadrupled!) I’m constantly amazed at how much can be accomplished, though there is still much to do and the work never stops. Through it all, I am very lucky to be able to have the best job ever, and to able to continue to ride this wave of sex-positive momentum. Here are some highlights. (NSWF, unless you work like me!)  ?

 

First comes the porn

I was honored to be nominated 2019 XBiz Europa Award’s International Crossover Star, as I felt I really did extend myself to so many projects while abroad in Germany. A few of these film projects — and others — have released this year, and to my pleasure I’m now able to share them with you. 

Volunteers Wanted (dir. by Ron Rex) premiered at the PornFilmFestival Berlin and I was so impressed by its cinematography. Not only is the picture perfect, but it’s also packed with heart and care. I think of it as a love letter to an incredible festivals that brings creators together from all over the world. Kali Sudhra is absolutely divine, and if you’re not head over heels about her yet, you will be after you watch this movie. 

Fisting Club (dir. by Shu Lea Cheang) has enjoyed a festival tour and is now available streaming on PinkLabel.TV. Inspired by the 90’s hit movie Fight Club, based on Chuck Palahniuk’s short story, our’s is a neo-punk porn homage, and the rules have been changed… “The First Rule of Fisting Club is, You Don’t Talk About Fisting Club — but I’m breaking all the rules and letting the world know where to watch. The queer porn short stars myself as the Tyler-inspired club leader, among the talents of Lina Bembe, Romy Furie, Sadie Lune, and Sky Deep. It’s silly, punky, and packs a punch. I wrote more about it here.

Fire Underwater (dir. by Ash Lake/Liara Roux) was filmed in a sultry Berlin dungeon at the tail end of one very long day and I could have melted off the table. Fortunately, Liara and her talented team created the perfect mood and environment for us to slip into a sexy dream mode with oils and rubdowns. 

Disco Made Me Do It (dir. Inka Winters) stars the incredible Zoë and Iris and myself, and has enjoyed a Hump Fest tour and is now on PinkLabel.TV. Watch an incredibly high-chemistry threesome with fisting galore. 

Fragments (dir. by Madison Young) stars Siouxsie Q and myself in a multi-part series for Lust Cinema. The series continues into 2020 with more scenes and characters played by Allysa Etain, Arabelle Raphael, and Mickey Mod. Madison was one of the few directors back in the early days of my porn adventures who hired me for her sexy film projects, so it many ways it feels like a porn family. Stay tuned for more updates and watch the first episode exclusively on Lust Cinema. 

BLUE ROOM (dir. Goodyn Green) is now online! OK, this is technically not a 2019 project, but it’s now finally available online to watch on PinkLabel.TV! I loved working with Mad Kate, and you’ll tell our chemistry is through the roof.

 

Posing for Pictures

I posed for Chris Nuit, The Dark Arts (photo book here!), and for Allan Amato’s Heretical Fates. I was also featured in Beyond the Binary book and exhibit by Chloe Aftel, and in Here portrait series by Tristan Crane, which was included in the Stonewall 50 Years Anniversary Art Exhibit at the Harvey Milk Photo Center in San Francisco. Speaking of photos, I created a separate “NSFW” Twitter account (@JizLeeX) specifically for sharing my adult postings, and I use OnlyFans to share naked selfies, workout videos, behind the scenes, and sexy experiments and other odds and ends.

Porn politics

The fight for free speech and sexual liberation is forever an uphill battle when it comes to porn. For the adult film industry, the biggest issues are still panning out. California law AB5 begins in 2020 and is a point of contention for indie film workers, which includes adult-themed productions. Our industry trade organization the Free Speech Coalition continues to fight the mid-90’s 2257 law that threatens performer privacy, including a recent security leak of thousands of performers personal information, and SESTA-FOSTA is still creating waves of online censorship that increases risks for the most vulnerable of those who engage in sexual exchange and impacts sex workers of all kinds — regardless if the labor is criminalized or not. Looking towards the positive, in the efforts made to improve the industry, I am blown-away by Lotus Lain, Industry Relations Director at the FSC who organized a number of projects and panels, including the launch of INSPIRE, a resource for new porn professionals. And I applaud organizations and politicians who are coming around to conversations of decriminalization as harm reduction in their lawmaking and campaigns.

Erotic and other Arts

ON OUR BACKS: the Revolutionary Art of Queer Sex Work exhibits at the Leslie-Lohman Museum through January 19th. I’m proud to be part of a display through the video Dear Jiz by Ms Naughty, and also to have helped coordinate a 15 year retrospective of Shine Louise Houston’s works through Pink & White Productions, including a wall of images from CrashPadSeries.com. 

Each year I collaborate with a visual artist to design a holiday card for an end of year fundraiser. This year we raised $250 for DecrimNY!

NIGHTCAP (dir. by Nicole De Meneses) is a queer horror film (with brief nudity) starring Jiz Lee, Veronika LaVery, Jay Drake. A stalker sets his sights on the wrong victim and gets more than he bargained for. Now available on Amazon Prime.

Books

While I didn’t release anything myself, I had the pleasure of talking with Saskia Vogel at City Lights for the release of her book, PERMISSION. I also picked up a new resource book for my web store, Lola Davina’s workbook for THRIVING IN SEX WORK with interactive worksheets and a brilliant companion piece to her original book of the same name. Highly recommended! I also read more #booksonaplane, posted to my Instagram. 

Nods!

I was honored with an XBiz Europa Award nomination for International Crossover Star.  All that work in Berlin was noticed, and as someone who often feels excluded from the larger industry (even despite my many privileges) it provides me with a sense of acknowledgement. In addition to the Europa Award, Pink & White’s websites PinkLabel.TV and CrashPadSeries.com also received nominations for the 2020 XBiz Awards “Female-Produced Site of the Year” — a category which continually is in flux, proving to me how hard it is to nail down how fluidly defined porn can be… is what we make “female-produced” or “specialty” or “feminist” or “niche” or… well, regardless what you call it, it’s what I am so grateful to be able to do what I do. Recognition or not. 

#BestDayJobEver

This year at Pink and White was action-packed! Yes, I know I say this every year because it is the truth. I’m so blessed and impressed to witness what our small company is able to accomplish. There’s no way to fit this into a paragraph so here’s a prose to free flow some highlights: CrashPadSeries.com celebrated its 300th episode milestone and is still going strong. We also added affiliate join buttons to star pages on CrashPadSeries.com to provide more commissions to performers. (I’m very optimistic about this feature!) PinkLabel.TV continues to host new works by indie adult filmmakers and was a sponsor of 2019 European PorYes Feminist Porn Awards. I launched a PornClub adult film review series on PinkLabel.TV for porn nerds. If this is you, inquire within! Our own film Chemistry Eases the Pain was produced over the summer thanks to over 300 backers on IndieGoGo. (It was my first time as 1st Assistant Director!) Our movie is due to be released Spring of 2020.  Shine and I travelled to Germany for the PornFilmFestival Berlin, where we filmed our first international production Camera and I starring the very sexy Jasko Fide. And as if we don’t already have a lot on our plate, on August 2020 we’ll debut the San Francisco PornFilmFestival. BIG news, right? There’s a lot to look forward to. And look how badass our company holiday card is! I know I’m forgetting a million more moments… And. Lots. Of. Press. Highlights. Let’s just say it was a good year for PW Inc. 

What else…

To keep my head above water, I worked harder than ever, focusing on what I could access, where I could create positive momentum, where I can use my leverage to uplift others. I also continued to build structures of sustainability and self-care; I’m still “keeping it moving” with training. Working out, which something I do almost daily, has been a vital part of combating burn-out. It’s enabled me to find balance and blow off steam, forces me off the computer to clear my head, and helped hold myself accountable to health as a priority. I’ve never felt better! 

Thank you

I’m grateful for your support in ways large and small, from book purchases to retweets, from geeky emails to press inquiries. Let’s come together for action, intention, and more adventures to come in the year ahead! 

It’s odd being a porn performer on Instagram posting everything *except* for the sexy stuff. So uh, follow (jizlee) if you like books and random workout vids?… 🐬💦 pic.twitter.com/9B9F4U8b8L pic.twitter.com/Vapmea8ppE

— Jiz Lee (@jizlee) August 31, 2019