Boston Underground Film Festival 2009

Deep in the San Fernando Valley, a multi-billion dollar trade abounds that chews up and spits out all but the most hardened of its workforce. It is, of course, the adult entertainment industry, an enterprise larger than the music and movie industry combined. 9to5 – Days in Porn delves into the lives of the people working in pornography and hopes to emerge with a glimmer of what motivates them.

Director Jens Hoffmann presents a thoroughly unbiased look at the determination, empowerment, naïveté, and sometimes outright sadness of the representative sample that makes up our cast. Some of the most intriguing subjects include young starlet Sasha Grey, determined to blaze new paths in porn, and Sharon Mitchell, who gave up a career as an adult-film actress to become a doctor and open a clinic for sex workers. Told through Hoffmann’s evenhanded eyes, the audience is left to determine for themselves what is scandalous, superficial, sleazy and sexy about this most American of exports.

-Kevin Monahan