For the first couple years of his feature filmmaking career, director Alex deRenzy focused almost entirely on directing documentaries. His distinct style of cinema verite crossed with informal interviews resulted in a unique series of films exploring world cultures, as seen through underground and transgressive sex and drug lifestyles. Presented here are three of his least seen yet most impressive documentary works, all newly restored from original 16mm vault elements. INNOCENTS ABROAD A look at the sex trade throughout western Europe in the wake of the sexual revolution, INNOCENTS ABROAD allows deRenzy's camera to investigate live sex shows, prostitution, and more, while contrasting the Europe of old with the progressive attitudes of the early 70s. WEED This ambitious examination of marijuana takes deRenzy on an international journey as he meets dealers, users, and the various lawmen out to stop them. A sometimes funny, sometimes unsettling, but constantly engrossing examination of the then burgeoning 'war on drugs’, WEED is a testament to deRenzy's most versatile documentary techniques and is presented fully uncut and authorized for the first time on. SEXUAL ENCOUNTER GROUP In his 'direct cinema' chronicle of an encounter group, unfolding in near real time, deRenzy examines the structure and methods of organized group sex and body realization.
