Andrew Blake (born 1948) is an American adult erotic

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

and

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

. Blake has been inducted into both the AVN and

XRCO The X-Rated Critics Organization (XRCO) is a group of writers and editors from the American adult entertainment industry who each year present awards in recognition of achievement within the industry. After the controversy and criticism of the ...

Halls of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

and is a medal recipient from the Worldfest-Houston International Film Festival for his first film NIGHT TRIPS.

Biography

Andrew Blake began his career working on movies for

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

, and then for

Penthouse Penthouse most often refers to: *Penthouse apartment, a special apartment on the top floor of a building *Penthouse (magazine), ''Penthouse'' (magazine), a British-founded men's magazine *Mechanical penthouse, a floor, typically located directly u ...

but shifted to working independently in the 1990s. Most of Blake's films are released through his own production company, Studio A Entertainment. Andrew Blake is a member of the

AVN Hall of Fame The ''AVN'' (''Adult Video News'') Hall of Fame has honored people for their work in the adult entertainment industry since 1995.XRCO Hall of Fame The XRCO Hall of Fame lists well-known adult entertainment works and workers. The list is managed by X-Rated Critics Organization and inducted annually during the XRCO Award The XRCO Awards are given by the American X-Rated Critics Organizat ...

(2003). Blake's films usually feature original music scores by the composer Raoul Valve. Blake has described his work as " erotic fashion," and his films usually include fetish, bondage, and

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

imagery, often excluding

heterosexual Heterosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behavior between people of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to ...

intercourse entirely. Blake's earliest films were primarily works of softcore erotica, however, and that sensibility still informs his pacing and style. Early films made by Blake soon after he came into his own as an independent director are fully explicit and usually combine heterosexual intercourse with lesbian imagery while including much less fetish and bondage content than his later films. An interview with Blake is included in the '' 9 to 5 – Days in Porn'' (2009) documentary film about the American porn industry.

Reception

Blake's first major film, ''Night Trips,'' (1989), was awarded the silver medal in the Non-Theatrical Release Category at the

Worldfest-Houston International Film Festival The WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival, founded in 1968, is an annual film festival held annually in April in Houston, Texas. Notable festival alumni include John Lee Hancock, who wrote and directed the Oscar-winning film '' The Blind ...

. Andrew Blake holds the distinction of being the first adult director to win a film award at a mainstream international film festival.The Helmut Newton of Porn: Violet Blue interviews Andrew Blake
San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 18, 2008 Andrew Blake's films are characterized by high production values, artistic stylization, and rigorous technique. His style has been compared to that of the seminal fashion photographer

Helmut Newton Helmut Newton (born Helmut Neustädter; 31 October 192023 January 2004) was a German-Australian photographer. The ''New York Times'' described him as a "prolific, widely imitated fashion photographer whose provocative, erotically charged black-a ...

, and described as "decadent, lush, opulent, unfailingly arousing, moneyed and sophisticated." Sex writer

Violet Blue Violet Blue is an American journalist, author, editor, advisor, and educator. Blue wrote a weekly sex column for the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' until 2010. In her podcast, Open Source Sex, she reads erotica and discusses topics such as feti ...

says of Blake's work: "It's a whole different genre of explicit erotic filmmaking evident from the first frame -- pure high fashion, glossy candyland fantasy. It is luxuriously designed from nip tip to toe. And it's stylish as hell."

Pop Culture

Andrew Blake has had a significant impact on pop film culture. Blake was the first adult director to win a crossover award with Night Trips filmed in 1989, which won the Silver Award Non-Theatrical Release at the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival. Blake featured

Dita Von Teese Heather Renée Sweet (born September 28, 1972), known professionally as Dita Von Teese, is an American vedette, burlesque dancer, model, and businesswoman. She is credited with re-popularizing burlesque performance, earning the moniker "Queen ...

in a full-length feature film Corsets & Upskirts, which featured her as a pinup and highlighted her interest in the fetish and kink lifestyle further elevating her career as the world leading fetish burlesque star. Blake has been on the forefront of pop culture embracing technology, such as the early adoption o
Twitter
in 2011, and helped usher film based cinematography into the digital era. Transferring his films to high-definition digital versions, Blake set the standard for high definition erotica.

Awards (selected)

*1999

AVN Award The AVN Awards are List of movie awards, film awards sponsored and presented by the American adult video industry trade magazine ''AVN (magazine), AVN'' (''Adult Video News'') to recognize achievement in various aspects of the creation and m ...

"Best All-Sex, Film" (''High-Heels'') *2000 AVN Award "Best All-Sex Film" (''Playthings'') *2002 AVN Award "Best Art Direction Film" (''Blond & Brunettes'') *2002 AVN Award "Best Cinematography" (''Blond & Brunettes'') *2002

Venus Award The Venus Award is a film award in the adult film industry presented yearly in Berlin since 1997 as part of the Venus Berlin trade fair, an international erotic trade festival, on the exhibition grounds at the Funkturm. Prizes are offered in ...

"Best Director USA" *2004 AVN Award "Best All Sex Film" (''Hard Edge'') *2004 AVN Award "Best Art Direction Film" (''Hard Edge'') *2004 AVN Award "Best Cinematography" (''Hard Edge'') *2004 AVN Award "Best Editing Film" (''Hard Edge'') *2005 AVN Award "Best Cinematography" (''Flirts'') *2008 AVN Award "Best Editing" (''X'') *2009 AVN Award "Best Cinematography" (''Paid Companions'') *2010

XBIZ Award XBIZ Awards are given annually to honour "individuals, companies, performers and products that play an essential part in the growth and success of adult films" and have been described by XBIZ publisher and founder Alec Helmy as being "born out of ...

"Excellence in Progressive Erotica" *2011

"Best Editing" (''Voyeur Within'') *2013 AVN Award "Best Photography Website" (''AndrewBlake.com'') *2014 AVN Award "Best Glamour Website" (''AndrewBlake.com'')

Filmography (selected)

References

External links

* .
Andrew Blake - Films at andrewblake.com
* . * .

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Andrew American pornographic film directors American pornographic film producers American erotic photographers Fashion photographers Living people 1948 births