Who We Are

We are a small group of film enthusiasts dedicated to making artistic, unusual, short-form erotic films that portray sexuality in an emotionally realistic way.

Jennifer Lyon Bell is the owner and director of Blue Artichoke Films, which is based in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Production and filming for Jennifer’s current projects are in Amsterdam and London. Future projects are planned in both New York and San Francisco.

Jennifer is an American with a degree in psychology from Harvard University and a master’s degree in Film Studies from the University of Amsterdam.

In addition to filmmaking, Jennifer’s writing and curation/programming projects addressing sexuality include:

• Museum co-curator, "Stags, Smokers, and Blue Movies: The Origins of American Pornographic Film” exhibition, Museum of Sex, New York City
• Sex columnist, Amsterdam Weekly arts & culture newspaper (Ladywood)
• Festival co-organizer and film programmer, “Rated X: Amsterdam Alternative Erotica Film Festival”
• Film programmer, “Pinched: Sex, Love, And Countercultures” festival
• Film programmer, “Io Isabella International Film Week”
• Film historian and segment producer, “American Stag” (2006) feature film documentary
• Contributing writer, Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender (Macmillan/Thompson Gale, 2006)
• Erotic film expert, interviewed in Marcelle Perks, “Secrets of Porn Star Sex: Brilliant Ideas for No-Holds Barred Pleasure (From The 52 Brilliant Little Ideas Series)”
• Academic writer, “Character and Cognition in Modern Pornography,” in “Affective Encounters: Rethinking Embodiment in Feminist Media Studies” (Finland)

Her speaking engagements include:

• University of Amsterdam guest lecturer, “The Archeology of Porn”, MA Film Theory program
• Featured in television documentary about the making of Blue Artichoke Film’s erotic short film “Matinée” (program “Amsterdamse Peil”, channel AT5)
• Women Inc. Festival panelist, “Sex Film for Women”
• Kriterion Cinema FilmNight (FilmNacht) panelist, Nuit Pornographique
• Interesting2007 conference lecturer, London: “9 Tips For Making A Better Erotic Film”
• Dutch Society of New Film and TV Makers (NFTVM) guest lecturer, “Character and Narrative in Sex Film”
• Rialto Cinema’s “Sex in Cinema Month” guest lecture: “Meeting the Pizza Boy: Relationship and Emotion in Erotic Film”
• Creative department Lecture Series, Leo Burnett, Amsterdam “Dirty Movies And How They Can Work for You”
• “Unprincipled Passions: Emotion and Modernity (Critical Interventions Series)” conference in Southampton, England

Blue Artichoke Films also has a core 4-person production team.

We bring in additional crew members based on each project’s needs. If you are interested in joining us, see our “Cast and Crew” page.