Founded by On Our Backs magazine founders Nan Kinney and Deborah Sundahl at the height of the lesbian sex wars of the 80s, Fatale Video was one of, if not the very first companies dedicated to making erotic videos by and for lesbians. When a program featuring Fatale’s first two shorts—Private Pleasures and Shadows—caused a riot (!) at the 1985 San Francisco Lesbian & Gay Video Festival, festival programmer and EZTV associate John Canaly decided to bring them to the Video Gallery at the end of September 1985. This kind of programming would eventually lead to some of the more high-minded critics and video artists of the era to give the space the dismissive (and perhaps a bit homophobic) nickname, SleazyTV.

For this special one-off screening, we’ll be playing a preserved copy of the original tape assembled for this program’s run at EZTV, with all of the original shorts, trailers, and snipes intact.

About The Series
Founded by frustrated aspiring filmmaker John Dorr in 1979, EZTV was created as an independent art space and production studio dedicated to video and, eventually, digital and performance art. From feature-length narrative dramas to horror, comedy, erotica, documentaries, and more, EZTV provided the space and equipment for independent videomakers of all stripes and backgrounds to realize their visions. Video Capital of the World is a weeklong screening and performance series honoring the diverse range of artists and communities that have found a home at EZTV over the first 45 years of its existence and the global influence that it has had on the development of video, digital, and performance art. Featuring nine wide-ranging programs across six different venues and online, the series is a first-of-its-kind expansive tribute to a still under-understood LA institution.