Thursday, 11 April 2013 Crowd-funding pledges for the restoration of cult British film Preaching to the Perverted via Kickstarter.com have now passed the initial target of £18,000 — the minimum anticipated cost of restoring and digital remastering. However, continuing support will enable more enhancements to the original product.
By public demand the producers have already added English subtitles at their own expense, and with the first target reached, they have now commissioned technical reports on the sound and picture which will establish the levels of work needed for optimum quality.
Hitting the next target of £22,000 will enable a higher level of sound remastering, more subtitles (in French, Spanish, Portuguese and German) and the addition of audio commentaries including a brand new one from star Christien Anholt. It will also ensure that the many cans of original 35mm negative and sound can be preserved for a minimum of five years.
And, says director Stuart Urban: “If we approach the next level of £26,000, we will publish the new goals that will be attained, which will include further levels of the above plus new stuff.”
Written and directed by double Bafta winner Urban, and hailed on its release in 1997 as the first mainstream film set squarely on the fetish club scene, this modern British fairy tale was inspired by contemporary court trials of kinksters and people practising consensual BDSM.
It features Arnholt as an infiltrator gathering evidence for an MP keen to crack the whip on smut, who falls in love with a domme played by lesbian icon Guinevere Turner, leader of the House of Thwax 24/7 lifestylers. It also features much-loved British actors such as Keith Allen, Roger Lloyd Pack, Julie Graham, Ricky Tomlinson, Georgina Hale, Julian Wadham and Tom Bell.
Filmed in a high camp style with a cast and crew often drawn from the fetish, BDSM and LGBT scenes, P2TP is a joyful portrayal of alternative sexuality that makes people laugh, but also reflects on the way of the world and focuses on the importance of consent.
Interest in kinky topics in the wake of the Fifty Shades phenomenon has found a new audience for P2TP, but its revival on Blu-ray and HD digital download requires extensive restoration work. In order to fund this, the production company launched a campaign on crowd-funding website Kickstarter.com, to restore and remaster the 35mm original.
The initial aim was to raise at least £18,000 for the film to be preserved and reach a wider audience in HD.
Back in 1997 its release did lead to controversy, being the last film of the 20th century to be banned in Ireland and even being cut for home video rating in the USA in 2003. The BBC had developed but then dumped the project for being unshowable, yet ended up screening it several times anyway!
Not only the fetish scene, but LGBT, music and fashion press embraced the film and helped it become an enduring cult hit. There have been tribute clubs or nights in several countries in the fetish and goth scenes, and burlesque performers have been named after the film, the clubs it features and its main characters.
The cast and director are reuniting for this appeal and have offered over £2,000 worth of rewards and prizes to get people active on social media to promote the campaign. Among the incentives offered to donors is ‘dinner with a dominatrix’ as well as opportunities to take part in events planned to celebrate the revival.
A number of key scene people are also solidly behind the restoration project. Rewards and prizes are coming from Jed Phoenix of London, Coffee Cake & Kink, Mistress Caramel, Mistress Velour, and many more without people necessarily having to contribute money to the campaign — though the minimum is only one pound.
Some great rewards are on offer, and the viral video campaign has a £250 prize up for grabs — see the viral video link below. Follow the Kickstarter link for more info on how to participate.
STOP PRESS: There’s also a rumour going around that if the restoration project is successful, a P2TP sequel could be in the offing — but you didn’t hear it from us!
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