The Last Porno Show
Wayne, an amateur method actor, inherits the city’s last adult cinema from his estranged father Al and gets caught up in the pornographic underworld as he struggles to resolve the traumas from his youth and reconcile with the father he barely knew.
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Kire PaputtsDirectorThe Rainbow Kid
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Kire PaputtsWriterThe Rainbow Kid
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Kire PaputtsProducerThe Rainbow Kid
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Nathanael ChadwickKey Cast"Wayne"
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Mickey SkinKey Cast"Julia"
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Victoria DunsmoreKey Cast"Ashley"
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Project Type:Feature
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Runtime:1 hour 30 minutes
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Completion Date:June 1, 2019
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Production Budget:150,000 USD
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Country of Origin:Canada
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Country of Filming:Canada
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:RED
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
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Toronto International Film FestivalToronto
Canada
September 10, 2019
World -
Torino Film FestTorino
Italy
November 26, 2019
International
Kire Paputts is an award-winning Canadian producer/director. His last feature film The Rainbow Kid, had its world premiere at TIFF 2015. His shorts have played around the world at such prestigious film festivals as TIFF, SXSW, VIFF, and The Edinburgh International Film Festival. The Last Porno Show, his sophomore feature, will begin its festival run in 2019. His company Made By Other People was started in 2014 and is a boutique film production company that strives to create high quality and thought provoking entertainment no matter the scope of project or size of budget.
Like all my previous films, The Last Porno Show incorporates non-traditional characters, situations, and themes in a character driven storytelling style. I’m very much drawn to stories that focus on outsider protagonists or people on the fringe. I feel they are a demographic who get easily overlooked and aren’t given a voice within the arts. I was raised on the films of John Waters and Harmony Korine. Storytellers who embrace eccentrics. More recently I’ve been influenced by the films of Giuseppe Andrews, who has worked with the same cast of characters for the last 15 years. I’ve always been drawn to real life characters. A lot of this stems from my own upbringing. I was fortunate enough to grow up in a mixed neighbourhood that was full of all walks of life. With this film I wanted to assemble some of Toronto’s most notorious and colourful characters and put all under one umbrella. This includes apple juice baron turned auteur filmmaker Frank D’Angelo, King of late night TV and self proclaimed “Prince of Love” David Bronstein, and East End Sensation street busker Wayne Larabee. I wanted to make a “Toronto” film but not in the traditional sense (ie. shots of the CN, people wearing Maple Leafs jerseys, etc). Instead I wanted to showcase Toronto through its eccentrics.
Working in both narrative and documentary I wanted to use this film, more than previous ones, to blend the two worlds. This includes using non-actors, improvisation, and embracing unexpected/unscripted moments. Although I spent years on the script, going into this film, it was used more as a blue print or jumping off point. Also, because many of the cast are non or first time actors, taking a more traditional approach to directing wasn’t conducive to getting the performances I wanted. Much of what you see on screen is a product of experimentation and improv.
The Last Porno Show, more than my past works, is the most polarizing film to date. It was an extremely hard film to get made. We were turned down by all major Canadian film institutes. They didn’t understand it. It was produced through Arts Council grants, crowdfunding, and personal savings. It’s important to push the envelope, whether it’s through form, story, or technical advancements. Film should take audiences to a place they haven’t been before and sometimes that means taking them on an emotional rollercoaster. Although there have been numerous films that revolve around the porn indusrty I’ve never seen one that weaves pornography into a traditional story like ours. Many people are going to get hung up on our use of hardcore pornography, but at the end of the day this film has a lot of heart and that’s what I’m most proud of.