A Nobel-nominated Japanese artist directs an Italian porn star in a Mediterranean fever dream nobody asked for.
Dedicato al mare Egeo is a forgotten and bizarre co-production produced between Italy and Japan from 1979, starring the famous Italian porn star Illona Staller (Cicciolina) and directed by the famous Japanese pinter, printmaker and novelist Masuo Ikeda (1934–1997) from his own script based on his novel “Ege-kai ni sasagu”, for which he won the Akutagawa Prize, the most prestigious literary award in Japan. Ikeda’s vigorous artistic activity even included screenplay writing and film directing. With this movie, Masuo Ikeda has undoubtedly left his mark on the ’70s Italian skin cinema.
Direction
Ikeda's painterly eye turns sleaze into strange visual poetry.
Production
Bizarre Japan-Italy co-production that shouldn't exist but does.
Director
Masuo Ikeda
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This represents a bizarre moment when Japanese high culture (Ikeda was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature) collided with Italy's decamerotic film industry. The director reportedly saw it as his 'European period.'
Ikeda made only two films and died nearly forgotten; Staller would later become an Italian parliament member. Their careers diverged so wildly that this collaboration feels increasingly like a glitch in reality.
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