A down-on-his-luck adult film star/director sees a chance to make a comeback when he is rediscovered by a lesbian documentary filmmaker, but she is merely exploiting him to get financial backing for her pet project, a musical based on Kate Millett’s The Basement. 

Super 8½ is a 1994 satirical comedy/drama film written and directed by Bruce LaBruce and shot on 16mm. The film, about a washed-up porn auteur who enters into a rocky partnership with an underground lesbian filmmaker, is a faux-documentary and “cautionary bio-pic” loosely based on LaBruce’s real life experiences. The movie references a number of other films, including Frank Perry’s Play It As It Lays, Fellini’s 8½, and Daniel Mann’s Butterfield 8. The film is composed primarily of interviews, Bruce’s porn films-within-the-film, and footage taken directly off the TV. Super 8½ premiered at the 1994 Toronto International Film Festival and was shown in the midnight series at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival.