Sex: The Annabel Chong Story (1999) is a documentary

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

, directed, filmed, and produced by Gough Lewis, and edited by co-creator Kelly Morris, which profiles porn star Annabel Chong

Annabel Chong

Grace Quek , better known by her stage name Annabel Chong, is a former pornographic actress now living in the United States. On 19 January 1995, at the age of 22, she became famous by engaging in 251 sex acts with about 70 men over a ten-hour period, setting a world record, with the resulting...

 (real name: Grace Quek). Quek, a gender studies student at the University of Southern California

University of Southern California

The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

, was also an adult actress famous for setting a world record by having sex 251 times with 70 men in ten hours in January 1995. A video of this event was released under the title The World's Biggest Gang Bang.

The documentary explores all the worlds that have touched Quek, presenting the pieces of including her life as a student in Los Angeles California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 and London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, her native Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

 and in the porn

PORN

Porn is a common short form for pornography. It may also refer to:* Progressive outer retinal necrosis, a disease of the retina* PORN, a French industrial rock band...

 industry. It focuses on her reasons for working in porn, and her relationship with friends and family. The documentary reveals to the viewers that she was gang raped as a student living in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and describes her many complex emotional issues, including signs of depression

Clinical depression

Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...

, self harm, and substance abuse

Substance abuse

A substance-related disorder is an umbrella term used to describe several different conditions associated with several different substances .A substance related disorder is a condition in which an individual uses or abuses a...

. The film also includes footage of a painful conversation in Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

 between Annabel and her mother, who until then didn't know about her daughter's porn career.

The documentary became a hit when it was released at the Sundance Film Festival

Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...

, nominated for the Grand Jury Prize, and championed by Robert Redford

Robert Redford

Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...

 and Jeff Gilmore. The film was released in theatres in 50 countries. The film's North American release was halted or minimized as a result of a court case in the Superior Court of Canada instigated by David Whitten, a B-movie

B-movie

A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....

 distributor. David Whitten was legally extracted from the project and his junior producer credit removed, but not until after extensive commercial damage, sub-standard DVD creation and distribution, and collapsing North American Distribution of the film.

Trivia

• The calligraphy Chong's father was performing was "Endure" .

External links

• CNN.com article by Paul Clinton
• Sense of Cinema article by Dmetri Kakmi
• Interview in Spike Magazine
• Japan Times Interview
• Asia Week's Review
• Metro Active's Review
• review of Sex: The Annabel Chong Story by Gerald Peary
  Gerald Peary
  Gerald Peary is an American film critic, who has been a reviewer and columnist for the Boston Phoenix since 1996. He was formerly the Acting Curator of the Harvard Film Archive and is currently the General Editor of the University Press of Mississippi Conversations with Filmmakers Series...
  
  
• Ruthless Review