Kink is resistance – it always has been. Two of my banned music videos play as part of Fall of Freedom at RE/STRICT Fest in Detroit. I also give a bit of history to those two videos.
As I have written here before, I am a fervent believer that art can create change. So I am especially excited to be participating in one of the Fall of Freedom events: two of my banned music videos will be screening in the Re/Strict Festival in Detroit.
“Fall of Freedom is an urgent call to the arts community to unite in defiance of authoritarian forces sweeping the nation. Our Democracy is under attack. Threats to free expression are rising. Dissent is being criminalized. Institutions and media have been recast as mouthpieces of propaganda.
This Fall, we are activating a nationwide wave of creative resistance. Beginning November 21–22, 2025, galleries, museums, libraries, comedy clubs, theaters, and concert halls across the country will host exhibitions, performances, and public events that channel the urgency of this moment. Fall of Freedom is an open invitation to artists, creators, and communities to take part—and to celebrate the experiences, cultures, and identities that shape the fabric of our nation.
Art matters. Artists are a threat to American fascism. – Fall of Freedom Website
Check here to see all of the events taking place around the globe.
One of my friends is one of the Fall of Freedom organizers and when I told her about my participation she texted me – “kink is political?” and I replied – “Most definitely!”. From Re/Strict Festival:
“Kink is resistance. It always has been.”
RE/STRICT is a film and art festival that celebrates kink as political defiance — a direct challenge to repression, censorship, and the policing of bodies. This isn’t about spectacle. It’s about survival, storytelling, and the radical act of being seen.
All kink is political. It breaks down purity culture, disrupts systems of control, and insists on our right to define our own bodies and desires. Through film, performance, and visual art, we share stories that unmask control dressed up as morality, uplift those most often erased, and demand the right to feel, want, and exist on our own terms.”
Some background: After leaving punk rock documentaries – I avoided 80’s MTV style music videos like the plague – they generally reflected worst aspects of 80s “rock” – sexist hyper consumerist etc. But based on watching my two shorts from film school, Trent Reznor asked me to direct the music video for Happiness in Slavery. He had just gotten out of a restrictive record deal where the label had severely constrained the content of his videos. “Go as far as you can possibly go” was the prime directive. I came up with a low fi sci fi update of Octave Mirbeau’s French decadent novel The Torture Garden. I was happy to cast my good friend Bob Flanagan (RIP) in the starring role. For more on Bob see his book Supermasochist.
If you are not in Detroit on Saturday – here is a link to the NIN Happiness in Slavery Video. NOTE: please try to not watch with anyone under 16. Although many artists have come up to me since and told me they watched the video when they were 12 and it changed their lives – inspiring them to become artists. Second Note – due to its banning – the video was initially only seen on bootleg VHS tapes. Side note – the film is still regularly ranked in the top 10 most notorious music videos ever.
In his new deal with Interscope – Trent was given complete creative control – so the record label was not involved in any part of the production – a dream for any director and it was incredible having that much creative freedom.
Based on the NIN video – Rick Rubin from American Records reached out to me to do a video for Danzig’s Its Coming Down. He wanted to do Danzig in the LA club Sinematic. My response: if you really want to push the limits I would suggest doing it in NYC’s infamous S&M club The Vault (now long closed)- that I had recently visited with some friends. Bob was too sick to perform so I included some of his video work – and his dominant/partner Sheree Rose performed and cast the piece authentically – in a version of the vault that we recreated in Los Angeles.
Here is the link to the Danzig video It’s Coming Down Again – this is not for anyone under – perhaps 18. It is potentially even more disturbing/graphic for some than the NIN piece.
The label actually had us cut 4 different versions of the video trying to get at least one of them on MTV. Unfortunately they sent what we refer to as the XXX version first (the one in the link above) – which sent MTV reeling and gave them flashbacks to the NIN video so they made the label cut every single reference to alternative sexuality/S&M out in order for it to air as a relatively bland performance video. Ultimately this is one of the results of censorship – in this case commercial censorship – that any work that challenges norms – threatens “normal” society – is either eliminated outright/killed in distribution or watered down into a mediocre melange – like most of what you see on every streamer 24/7 these days.https://jonreiss.substack.com/p/get-out-to-fall-of-freedom-this-weekend