Above is a short film I made last year with my filmmaking pal, Robert Semmer. It’s called Domestic Bliss and it originally aired on Channel 4 in the UK, as part of their Random Acts short film series. You will see–if you decide to devote three minutes of your short life to watching this–that there is a mildly intimate moment toward the end of the video between myself and a young boy. The actor’s name is Lawrence and he’s the coolest kid ever. His dad is the wonderful photographer Nick Haymes, who I’ve interviewed in the past, specifically about his recent photobook Gabe–a beautifully creepy, voyeuristic love story. Anyway, I just thought it was worth mentioning that both Lawrence and his family consented to the aforementioned scene, seeing it for what it was: an acting role, and a pretty awesome one at that! (And after all, art has no rules, lol.) I should also probably mention that Lawrence was extremely professional and did not try to put any pervy or inappropriate moves on me.
I only brought that up because after the film originally aired, a bunch of bored losers on the internet congregated on their bored loser HQs–also known as Reddit and the comment section of Youtube–to commented endlessly about how I’m a pedophile rapist. But I was all–Yo dudes, take a chill pill!
Credits: Director: Robert Semmer; Writer: Karley Sciortino; Staring: Karley Sciortino, Lawrence Haymes & Ernie Quintero; Director of Photography: William Voermann; Music: Dev Hynes; Editor: Robert Semmer; Color: Paul Shin
Ha ! I think this is a humorous (if a smidge heavy-handed!) way to highlight the pitfalls of dating overly cerebral / nerdy types. The use of a 10yr old perfectly mirrors how a certain type of guy doesn’t really change that much in terms of how they relate to other people; the case in point being strong, sexy women – they just (seemingly) don’t need the interaction/sex as much on a personal or “just because” level, they somehow get all their needs met from being 100% involved in their work / passions. They show you they love you in different ways, like an irrationally urgent “put your seatbelt on” in a 10 min cab ride, or a “your fb was running slow so I de-bugged your computer & set up an alert for if someone hacks your iCam”. It’s not that we don’t love and appreciate all those things, but sometimes you really just want to be thrown against the nearest surface and fucked like the world was ending. Ah, romance, why you keep breaking my heart ! lol x
I would still marry you even if you were a paedo-pan.
The media has made people obsessed with paeodophilia to the point of hysteria. I found this firstly funny, then charming and sweet. Nothing creepy or disturbing about it. A very successful short film, which I found very entertaining in a sort of Wes Anderson way. You are an excellent lady.
You’re fascinating to watch. I guess as an arty film, you could interpret this in many different ways. Probably the most obvious is that guys are mostly never mature enough to understand a woman’s needs
stfu older guy I understand a womanz needz
i really think u have wat it takes to make it in the industry ;-)
that kid has SO much indie cred at SUCH a young age, is that even safe??
This is hipster smut. And yes, pedophelic. Women like you don’t protect children, you sexualize for all the pedos on the internet and call this “art”. Your a girl prancing around in cute little outfits begging for everyone’s attention.
TRASH.
I thought that bit where you done the illegal no seat belt for the cars was the worst bit and I think kids driving is okay.
Didn’t find anything disturbing or innapropriate, those hatters are pretty damn sad.
On another matter:
Karlie, please do a favor to humankind and make a porn video.
just curious what happened to the old karley? the one that would post erotic videos of herself or random posts multiple times a week
i think she’s writing a book and maybe involved with other long-term projects (..?) so has less time
i miss the those great life updates as well though :-(
that would make sense why but i still wish she would do more. love her blog :D plus shes absolutely gorgeous
Karley,
I think you are very talented since in the credits show you wrote it. I get it, men definitely are undeveloped emotionally hiding Behind important adult jobs. I love the 60′ ish vibe and music.
i would rather be underdeveloped my ENTIRE life than have to live life constantly searching for impossibly perfect forms of satisfaction. cool vid, but once again you and your followers have proven how much of a burden it is to be a woman…so happy i was born with a penis.
I am sure you will rather being underdeveloped since it usually refers to muscle growth. So I get it dude. You have a small penis and also know that the penis is not a muscle, but it goes with the theme.
When i showed this to my boyfriend and asked him his thoughts, he simply said that its a movie about a woman who escapes from her mundane life. when i mentioned the child he said. well yeah, men are seen as more immature then women so it makes sense. He never even considered it to be taboo or pedophilish. It was so refreshing for me to hear his opinion. I just find it so annoying how masked people on the internet just cant wait to jump down your throat on issues that are totally unrelated to the art you are trying to produce. calm down. i think that kid in the movie is going to be the hot shot at school for it and i think it was really cute the way it was done. I loved seeing the different outfits Karly was wearing, they were so mod and gorgeous. it must have been so fun to make a short film like this!
I don’t think you are a paedophile rapist, Karley. At least, there’s no evidence in this video that you are. The paedo paranoia has reached a point at which ANYTHING that vaguely links children and sexuality is unthinkingly condemned. The profound irony, of course, is that the self same society that does that is simultaneously telling women in their twenties, thirties, forties and fifties that to make themselves more sexually attractive they should strive to look as much like the fifteen year old models advertising anti-aging cream as they possibly can.
But what I think is actually most remarkable about this situation, though, is not the negative response to the video (which was to be expected), but rather how relatively LITTLE negative response there has been. It was approved to be broadcast on public television, and their has been no widely publicised scandal as a result. That is a good thing, and suggests that sanity still prevails in some quarters. But imagine, for a moment, that exactly the same video was made, but with the gender roles reversed. A husband, played by a grown man, tries desperately to reignite the erotic spark in his marriage to a disinterested wife, who is played by a twelve year old girl. We see them in bed together, we see him trying to openly flirt with her, we see him adopt ever more revealing outfits to try to turn her on. Finally, she finds him working as a male stripper, and while he is wearing nothing but a g-string, they kiss. On the lips. Does anyone believe that THAT film would ever, ever, ever, EVER be screened on television, anywhere in the world, or that if it was there would not be a massive global scandal about it, or that the television network would escape without having their broadcasting license immediately revoked? No amount of arguing that the character of the wife was actually a grown woman, that she was only being PLAYED by a child to make a point about her immaturity, would dissuade people from seeing it as a pedo film.
And the reason for the double standard? The persistent idea that sex is something that males do TO females, which makes the idea of a boy being the victim of a woman abuser either not occur to people at all, or else be sort of vaguely amusing.
I would’ve done the pervy moves.