Deep Throat screening tonight in Chiang Mai

The 1972 cult-classic porn film, Deep Throat, is showing at 7 tonight (Saturday, February 23) at Film Space at Chiang Mai University Art Museum.

Now, I know, porn is supposed to be illegal in Thailand. But because this is a university museum-organized screening, they can screen it in the name of art. And, Deep Throat actually gained a bit of mainstream following in the U.S. back the 1970s. So, it's a cultural icon.

But, I wonder what would happen if Film Space ever programmed Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Syndromes and a Century?

Anyway, here is what Chiang Mai-based movie correspondent Mark Gernpy has to say about Deep Throat:

The granddaddy of porn films, probably the most famous in the world. Helped to bring down Richard Nixon. (That’s an inside joke.) Of course, I saw this . . . way back when.

This one is just out-and-out pornography, without any redeeming social value (except of course for the aforementioned impeachment of a U.S. President). Yet, it became immensely popular around the world, and somehow was acceptable in regular cinemas for a brief period in the 1970s in the U.S. Made a star and celebrity out of Linda Lovelace. (Her lifetime income from her performance in this film: $1,250.) Its plot consists of one simple arc of action: foreplay (very brief), fellatio, and climax. Repeated 76 times. (Just joking!) Of historical interest now, and for its camp value.

Film Space organizes weekly screenings on Saturdays, with each month's schedule having some sort of theme. I've never attended them, but they always have something interesting. This month's theme, I guess, has something to do with love, in honor of Valentine's Day.

The venue is the Media Arts and Design building, on the 2nd floor. Says Mark Gernpy:

A very small but very nice place to view movies. Or sometimes it’s on the roof. It’s all very disorganized. Take their schedules with a grain of salt. In the past, theirs has been an excellent exercise in film programming, but what was actually shown in 90 per cent of the cases was an entirely different film. “A” for planning; “F” for execution, organization, and managerial ability.

Coincidentally, Deep Throat is also getting a screening on Dutch public television, which is what prompted me to mention tonight's Chiang Mai screening. More about that is on Twitch.