Jean Daniel Cadinot (10 February 1944 – 23 April 2008) was a French photographer, and director/producer of

gay pornographic Gay pornography is the representation of sexual activity between males. Its primary goal is sexual arousal in its audience. Softcore gay pornography also exists; it at one time constituted the genre, and may be produced as beefcake pornogra ...

films. His photography focused on homoerotic imagery, and his films are noted for their emphasis on plot and realism.

Biography

Cadinot was born during World War II, in German-occupied Paris, in the Montmartre hill area of the

Batignolles Batignolles () is a neighbourhood of Paris, part of its 17th arrondissement. The neighbourhood is bounded on the south by the Boulevard des Batignolles, on the east by the Avenue de Clichy, on the north by Rue Cardinet and on the west by the Ru ...

Quarter. His parents were tailors who custom fit clothes. Cadinot later remarked that while his parents had clothed men, he earned his reputation for undressing them. As a teenager, Cadinot hoped to become a painter and, due to parental opposition, ran away from home at the age of 17. In the early 1960s, he studied at

École des Arts et Métiers École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Sav ...

and at the National School of Photography. He then began his professional career at Valois Studios, where he directed mainstream films for French-speaking audiences. He first pursued a career in photography, which took on a homosexual angle with his nude portrait of writer Yves Navarre and singer Patrick Juvet. His erotic photographs appeared in the first edition of ''

Gai Pied ''Gai pied'' or ''Gai pied hebdo'' was a monthly, then weekly (hence the name Hebdo), French gay magazine, founded by Jean Le Bitoux. Its name, which literally means "Gay foot", is a homophone of ''guêpier'', which means a hornet's nest or, figur ...

''. He began to sell

nude photograph Nude photography is the creation of any photograph which contains an image of a nude or semi-nude person, or an image suggestive of nudity. Nude photography is undertaken for a variety of purposes, including educational uses, commercial applicat ...

s and finally moved to directing movies in 1978. By then, he had published 17 photo albums, with total sales of over 170,000 copies. Setting up his own production company, ''French Art'', Cadinot made dozens of

16 mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, edu ...

films. Characteristic of Cadinot's films was an emphasis on plot, much more so than in typical porn films. His plots were often based originally on incidents from his own life, but he was known for adjusting the plot during filming to incorporate experiences of his actors. He insisted on realism in his films, especially in sex scenes, saying that the actors "do not portray things that are imposed on them by me, but things they like to do themselves". By 1998, he had directed fifty-four films, some under the pseudonym ''Tony Dark''. In 2004, he won a FICEB HeatGay Award for Best Director (''Les secrets de famille'' - ''French Art''). On 23 April 2008, Cadinot died of a heart attack. After his death, the company ''French Art'' was headed by François Orenn, a classically trained pianist who started working for Cadinot as a score composer and who managed the company from 2002. Two unfinished films by Cadinot, ''Subversion'' and ''Le Culte d'Eros'', have since been released. Orenn also began directing films of his own in Cadinot's style (''Anges et Démons'' and ''L'Avarice'') and with Cadinot's technical crew. In 2013, StudioPresse and PinkTv jointly acquired the Cadinot trademark and exclusive distribution rights on all Cadinot movies, including previously unreleased material. The website "Cadinot.fr" is owned by StudioPresse, which is known to own other gay labels such Jnrc, Citebeur, GayArabClub etc.

Partial filmography

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cadinot, Jean Daniel 1944 births 2008 deaths French photographers LGBT film directors French LGBT artists Directors of gay pornographic films French pornographic film directors French pornographic film producers Producers of gay pornographic films 20th-century LGBT people

Biography

Partial filmography

See also

References

External links