Thanks Leo...
We were always conscious that some people wouldn't be happy with an sort of light being shined on their sexual interests and preferences. I hope those people find their concerns unwarranted, but I'm sure for some there will still be some unpleasantness.
There are definitely points within the film where people (who, until that point, were probably unaware tickling was "a thing") will laugh awkwardly, but I've watched it with at least a thousand people now and I've not yet heard any ew's.
The thing that really made us realise we had to make the film was when we discovered a website registered in the real name of one of the tickling participants. It featured links to his videos as well as all his personal contact information - phone numbers, email addresses, social media. We later spoke to that person and learned that emails were sent to employers and others. All as some sort of twisted attack.
So in the context of that behavior which we document in the film - the tickling honestly takes a backseat.
I'll update the forum once I know more about general release plans.
Dylan, that you are here, on this forum, on this obscure CORNER of the forum, trying to allevite people's anxiety, speaks volumes and I really, really appreciate it beyond all words. As I said: it is such a weird, stranger-than-fiction story, I completely understand making a movie about it, and good on you for happening upon it! And "the tickling takes a back seat"....I dig it.....this could have been about ANY fetish.....it happens to be about this one.....the film's focus is REALLY about this person/organization, preying on people through the internet, and - for seemingly no reason - screwing up their lives by using personal information.....and (presumably) you are uncovering that this is a well-funded effort.
Lastly: I truly appreciate that you "were always conscious that some people wouldn't be happy with an sort of light being shined on their sexual interests and preferences." You guys didn't have to be that way. I'm sure you had enough on your hands that taking that into consideration was a pain in the neck sometimes. This is such an obscure, small fetish that you could have thought, ah screw it, screw them.......we're making a movie here!
One last thing: tickling someone definitely has the control thing, and that's why there is some overlap with bondage people (the way there is also an overlap with foot fetishism, and other parts of the body).......but it's also about sensuality, tactile sensation, interplay, flirting....how the person looks (pretty, hot), the melody of the laughter.....attention.......it's a sexy thing. It's no accident that in old movies, if they want to communicate something naughty going on in the next room, you hear a girl's giggling.....I think people have gotten so obsessed that sex has to be "dirty", they can't understand the simple pleasure of just touching someone and getting a physical reaction...ala sex itself.
Thanks again, Dylan Reeve, you've won me over, me of many words, what I'll probably do is go see the earliest showing if it plays, like, Film Forum or something, I'm sure it'll be here in the city. (Magnolia put out "Good Ol Freda" didn't they? They did a great job with that one! That could have sank without a trace! And I think they put out that fantastic doc that came out last year about the Cambodian music scene before the Khmer Rouge wiped them out, "Don't Think I've Forgotten", another great one! I know their logo vividly so I definitely have seen many of their releases. Really happy for you guys!)
