Permission to Touch

Internationally renowned for his signature style, the emotionally intense, character-driven approach known as Direct Action Cinema, director Rob Nilsson (Bridge to a Border, MVFF 2014; A Leap to Take, MVFF 2013) spins the camera 180 degrees to focus upon a fictional facsimile of himself in Permission to Touch, reprising the lead role of photojournalist Mel Hurley from his 1987 Sundance Grand Jury prizewinning film Heat and Sunlight. Now 30 years older, Hurley is asked to put his unique vision at the service of Funmi Marlowe, a sensuous and sybaritic young female performance artist (a pitch-perfect T. Moon) who requisitions his services but is not content to merely submit herself to his gaze. The result is a thoroughly provocative mix of reality, fiction, spontaneity, and intelligent scripting that shapes itself into a deeply meaningful dialogue on the intimate erotics of filmmaking and the power of the image in front of and behind the screen. (Mill Valley Film Festival)