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Afrodite Superstar

Afrodite Superstar is an American independent art film shoot in New York City in 2006. The film has also been referred to as erotica. The director also refers to the film as an experimental film as the characters break the fourth wall, and there is a blend of satire. Afrodite Superstar was directed by Venus Hottentot. Executive producer Candida Royalle is also credited with directing the sexual scenes. Afrodite Superstar has been endorsed by American Association of Sexual Educators, Counselors and Therapists and premiered in 2007 at the New School for Social Research with a discussion about women of color and sexual images. The film subsequently screen#Verb as part of an art exhibit called Hos, Putas and Dragon Ladies: Our Sexuality Remixed at the chashama Gallery in Manhattan. Afrodite Superstar was nominated for 7 AVN Awards in 2007 including "Best Director", "Best Screenplay" and "Best Musical Score." The film was referred to as "erotic" and "cerebral" in Essence Magazine , and was mentioned in the Village Voice's 2007 Sexy Gift Guide by sexpert Tristan Taormino.

Director

Afrodite Superstar was directed by art filmmaker Venus Hottentot. She joins Larry Clark, Matthew Barney, John Cameron Mitchell, Vincent Gallo, Michael Winterbottom and Gore Vidal (Destricted, Shortbus, The Brown Bunny, 9 Songs and Caligula) as mainstream filmmakers who sought to make thought-provoking, intelligent films with explicit sexual content.

Venus Hottentot is a feminist art school graduate who wanted to make a film that showed positive sexual representations of women of color to directly contrast the images in pop culture music videos, films and magazines, while also employing comedy and satire. She chose the name Venus Hottentot to reclaim the spirit of a South African woman, also called Sarah Baartman, who was sexually displayed and exploited in Europe. The film quotes Gloria Steinem and Bell Hooks, and the director has been called the Zane of filmmaking. Venus Hottentot does not use the word "porn" to describe Afrodite Superstar as this term is misleading for this film. To this end, the film has drawn ire from those seeking to use it for pornographic purposes as porn/ audience arousal was not the director's mission. As an African American filmmaker, her objective with this project was reclaiming the voice and expression of women of color, as well as raising sexual self esteem.

Venus Hottentot has been identified as TV host/novelist and art film maker Abiola Abrams.

Plot

The satirical film spoofs several recent pop cultural It Girl moments such as Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction and Ashlee Simpson's lip synching fiasco. It has also been called an African American Red Shoe Diaries.

Afrodite Superstar evolves the standard fairytale of Cinderella —girl gets her prince and a sense of self as well. The plot summary: Have you ever dreamed of being a superstar? Poor little rich girl AfroDite hasn’t—not until she runs into CEO, the mogul’s mogul of hip hop. Catapulted in to the world of made mega-stars, AfroDite quickly becomes a top selling rapper and nothing can keep her down – not wardrobe malfunctions, not lip synching fiascos, nothing! Well, almost nothing. Finding herself a little socially challenged in the love department, her secret crush CEO only seems to see dollar signs on her forehead. The principal questions are "Will AfroDite get her man" and "Will super-stardom turn out to be everything she never wished for?"