S&M video producer in Hungary raided by police
Scenology — By Adele on 27 January, 2010 8:41 pmA reader* has alerted me to an item on a Hungarian news site, according to which a S&M film studio was raided by the police after a model complained that her treatment went further than she had consented. Three people were arrested.
The Google translator rendition is quite garbled as usual, so any Hungarian-speaker would be welcome with a human version of the story. [EDIT: Krampus had a go at translating the story for us. Find his version below, sans the final paragraph - thanks, Krampus!] As far as I can understand, the woman is a vanilla model who signed up to do a S&M shoot purely for the money, and then found that the pain was greater than she wished to experience. She claims that although her contract contained a safeword, this was not honoured when she used it.
The most interesting information is contained in the last paragraph. If I decyphered it correctly, it looks like the producers can be prosecuted not only on the basis of this incident, but for any previous film they had made, as in Hungarian law consent isn’t a defence against an assault (?) charge. Therefore, modelling contracts aren’t an expression of consent.
The article doesn’t name the producer, but both Mood Pictures and Elite Pain appear to be offline.
* Identify yourself in the comments if you wish – and thanks for writing in.
EDIT. A partial translation by Krampus:
Beaten woman reports SM filming to police.
On Sunday the police cracked down on the shooting of an illegal SM porno film. After some delay a woman who was brutally beaten in a studio in Ujpest [a neighbourhood not far from central Budapest] reported the matter to the police. This emerged at the police’s press conference on Wednesday. There are three suspects.
[photograph captioned: Implements from the scene]
At the weekend the police pounced on the location of the shooting of a porno film in Budapest IV, and were thus able to interrupt the shooting of an SM film. Several people were taken away; in all three men were suspected of violations of personal freedom and causing bodily harm.
At the press conference police superintendent Jozsef Baranyi reported that in the past week the Ujpest police station had received an anonymous letter written in a shaky hand. He added that the letter had been written by a mother of seven who was thus one of the injured. The woman left her mobile so that the police were able to contact her number in the letter.
The woman had replied to a job advertisement promising a remuneration of between 100,000 and 200,000 forint . There was no mention of sex, but nuditywas a requirement. It was emphatically stated that it did not involve any work. The woman was unemployed, in an extremely bad financial situation, and therefore replied to the advertisement. She signed a contract, but did not receive a copy. They explained that it was all about a sado-masochistic shoot, but they lied when they told her that she would be very lightly hit, or only pretend-hit and she would play at feeling pain.
When they came to the studio in Ujpest, to the revolving stage, they tied her to a bed and immediately began to beat her. Another r woman had to thrash her with a cane, a whip and a wide plastic thing. Later they they tied her to a bench and to an iron pipe. There was a moment when the woman who was being thrashed was no longer able to bear the beating. A sign had previously agreed and they had promised that if she said the word they would stop the beating. According to the superintendent the sign was that she should say “Stop it, I beg you, my lord!” . However, she begged in vain, the producer took over thrashing her and the woman was beaten until she was bleeding.
At the studio they offered recordings of sessions for sale, but it was also possible , for money, to watch live, active sessions on line. According to the police, many of the videos shot in the studio recorded long-drawn-out brutal beatings. In the studio there was also a room fitted out like a hospital pharmacy, with medicines and painkillers. In that place thee was an orderly of the medical ambulance service whose job it was to provide first aid. They questioned him as the sole witness.
According to the report the police observed the place on the weekend of 23-24 January, but on Saturday they pounced. The raid was a success as a result of the strong police action because the studio was protected by strong security. In reply to a question the superintendent said that the studio had been set up in a disused house in Szilagyi Street. A total of 14 persons stepped forward, among them the injured parties and the witness, and finally also the three suspects. They had arrested one of the three men but they had not gone on to keep him in custody: for the present he remained a free man. The superintendent resolutely denied the news report that a policemen would also be found to be involved in this business. Among the persons injured in the SM film shoot up to now there were five well-known women who had also reported the matter to the police, but the police were still looking for more persons who had been injured. The superintendent thought there might be more than ten, and he believed they might include a number of males. According to information obtained none of the injured was under 18.
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Hi, I’m Eslynne Weaver’s husband, and at her request I looked at the articles and did some research into this. My first language is Hungarian so I have a more unique perspective on this, if you will.
One point of clarification on the article translations…
The woman was hired to be beaten and was not a top. The Art Noir site sited the original article that Adele posted as stating that she was hired as a top. This is an incorrect translation. Every other article I read stated that she was the beaten and not the beater.
I read everything I could find on this topic and I believe that the primary issue here is not the legality of consent, but whether or not the woman’s use of the safe phrase was ignored.
The articles stated that when the police raided the firm they confiscated 14 terabytes of footage, but no mention of any documents. If enough video and paper evidence was found to prove the safe phrase was ignored then it is cut and dry.
The secondary issue of legality is a point of contention worldwide, for the most part. Laws are always up to interpretation by an individual if a judge rules or by many, a jury. A person’s morals, ideals, and religious views will also influence a decision. According to what I have read she was lied to about the severity of the beating, as they told her it was going to be fake, and that she needed to fake the pain. By any standard she didn’t give a truly informed consent to the beating/video as she thought it was going to be fake. Yet if she was beaten bloody, then there was no informed consent and they are at fault.
As I hear and read more I will keep you updated.
Thanks very much for this. A native speaker’s perspective is invaluable!
Personally I find it interesting and disturbing that if you “consent” to be beaten in an arena or sports venue it isn’t illegal because it isn’t a corporal punishment/abuse. Yet people see a spanking or caning, etc as corporal punishment and so immediately jump to the conclusion that it is abuse. Lack of knowledge and an inability to comprehend differing points of view has become a true problem anywhere you go these days.
Boxing is by many considered a brutal sport. But not by the practitioners, though they do suffer minor nad major injuries, often. Football is not considered a brutal sport, but the players go to hospital constantly. Alpine ski sport is not brutal in confrontation with fellow competitors, but the sport is popular with an audience who knows it is deadly dangerous. People get legs and backs broken, and one French woman died not so long ago. Movie stunts, often highly risky and with frequent injuries, are performed by men and by women.
I see the brave spankees as a kind of stunt women. Butts must be beaten for real, to make a spanking video, soft or hard. But in those vids, there is a sexual element, which is frowned on esp when women reecive the beatings.
I have in vain tried to have various girlfriends realize that the violence between men that they like so much to watch in certain prison exploitation films etc, with insane fistfights and abuse, is also erotic. But they can say “Erotic? No way!Shut up, I am watching this!” because no public discourse has established that it is.
All this said, fans of the harder vids, with people whipped and tortured, like them because they trigger sadist emotions.
My point is: scene people and audiences who like a spanking to be a bit firmer than, say, Northern Spanking, should realize or meditate on what human mental powers are at play. (Which many indeed do.)
And the vanillas would do well giving this some thought too, even if they never spank anyone or enjoy sm vids sexually.
mood pictures mood art all those guys very bad please be happy that they will no longer make this crap. i know models beaten
I’m surprised by how this got into a legal/illegal discussion and the total lack of empathy for a potential victim of severe possibly uncalled for beatings. It doesn’t seem very huma or friendly to me, this whole rationalization thing. It seems some of the kinksters are more concerned about the image of their hobby then about what may have happened to this woman. I do not believe bdsmers are sick just because of their sexual preferences, but I really have my doubts about the, what I would say is, victim blaming. Also, I’d like to point out that I know many people in Hungary and most women there don’t have a lot of money, just for luxury stuff is kinda hard to believe, because it would implicate that only the top of the working people would do it. (Since they are the only ones who need the money for ‘only luxury, a little extra’). I’m not buying it…
Me has a point – and a few of the comments do remind one of claims put forward by defenders of fox-hunting.
I haven’t counted the number of lines in the correspondence devoted respectively to indignation on behalf of the (alleged) victim and speculation about the law but my impression is that the latter takes up quite a lot more space. But that may be due not only to the defensive mind-set of some correspondents but also because at present there is a great deal more that can be said about the law than about the reports of what took place.
The last two comments made me think.
After three decades of questioning police officers and reviewing their reports, I can say that there are honest and careful officers, and honest but careless officers who leave out witness names and scramble the facts. Then there are those who are deeply infected with self righteousness and cynicism, who lie and are proud of it. This becomes especially common in cases they feel strongly about. When they feel impunity too, as often happens, then it gets grotesque. Such a situation has characteristics that are hard to define, especially to those who have not gone through this, and most would just explain by saying something like, “It smells.”
The asserted facts in this case struck me from the first as having that smell. If pushed, I strongly suspect this story will fall apart into nonsense. It very likely began with an informant who needed something from the police, and tried to say whatever they wanted to hear, without much art in the story invention.
This offends me. It is why I feel no sympathy for the purported victim. I feel towards her only as I might to any other accomplise in an abuse of power.
Only the attorney who investigates this will pin it down and prove it, and it may not be so. I suspect, only that. But I am so distrusting of this, based on experience, that it entirely colors my reactions and sympathies.
And let me add for Mood that, while some of what they do is too much for me, I enjoyed some too, I am glad they were out there, and I hope they return in some form soon.
I urge Adel Haze to really listen to this comment I was told this by United Kingdom HMRC before the bust happened.
BDSM is a very grey area in law the whole world over and so is porn the whole world over. If you get BDSM porn laws right and you own a BDSM porn studio you make alot of money. Get BDSM porn laws wrong and you can get a very severe prison term.
I choose to believe that the owners of mood-universe.com did not really understand Hungarian porn laws the proof of this is the police press statement and the video of the bust.
I am 100% certain that the word of the police shall be taken over the word of the accused. The judge will make certain the jury does not listen to anything the accused have to say. The judge will not listen to anything the accused have to say apart from a guilty plea. The trial is just a formality the owners of mood-universe.com have already been found guilty.
What is more ask the owners of mood-universe.com if they had permission for their studio of any kind from their goverment? Because I know permission is what this whole bust was all about and the lack of it.
Adel will you believe me when the owners of mood-universe.com are in prison it is a question of when they go there not if. Which means their copyright, their contracts, their terms and conditions as well as their legal notice has no value. All their customers must hope that all models were over 18. Do you know or understand what a serious offence the owners of mood-universe.com were commiting before they got busted? I will give you a clue they had no permission from their goverment to run their studio. They did not know their films were made unlawfully. They were surprised when they got busted. They were idiots all the judge has to do is show their films to a jury in order to justify jailing them. Pay no attention to anything they say. Their porn scam has blown up in their faces and its their problem.
mood/elite pain were the best hardest dvds ive ever seen.
im gonna buy up as many as i can. they might eventually stop being sold or even banned.
get em while you can.
Bartram, do you have specific knowledge of Hungarian conditions? You are from there? I dont recall. But what you say can be true. P&P can get busted on small formalities of use of the location, I am sure, if authorities want to. Or tax or vat, or insurance. And most normal juries would be shocked and say guilty when shown the ‘worst’ from ElitePain. But cultures vary. Go from UK across to Holland and you find a very different society. Hungary I dont know. The Mood trial will be interesting. Even IF the footage from the debated incident would show that the girl made up all that with being tied ad abused in violation of contract.
el, where do you plan to buy them? The Mood sites are down since the raid. Are there legal copies in any shop near you, or on the net?
In case anyone is interested, I posted a second email by Pedro on my blog, where he goes into more detail about the whole affair and about what, according to him, happened at the shoot:
http://rohrstockpalast.blogspot.com/2010/02/some-questions-answered-by-pedro.html
——–
@ Me: “I’m surprised by how this got into a legal/illegal discussion and the total lack of empathy for a potential victim of severe possibly uncalled for beatings. It doesn’t seem very huma or friendly to me, this whole rationalization thing. It seems some of the kinksters are more concerned about the image of their hobby then about what may have happened to this woman.”
I don’t think that this is a fair assessment. I’ve said from the beginning that, if it turns out that the accusations are true, it would be very sad indeed. Not just because of the damage done to the image of our “hobby”, but also, and more so, because of what happened to the victim, obviously.
I’ve received a truckload of reader emails recently, and the first question on most of their minds was: “Have we been wrong about this company all along?” (which we supported by buying their videos) People are clearly concerned, and not just about themselves, but also about the models at the shoots. Needless to say, I am concerned, too, and I asked myself the same question.
On the other hand, I have seen enough sensationalist and utterly inaccurate reporting about BDSM videos over the years, and I have heard of enough over-eager police investigations, to take everything that is written in such an article with a great deal of skepticism. There are a couple of things here that “smell”, as Mark put it, things that don’t ring true – also in light of my own personal experiences with Mood in the past.
So, we will just have to wait and see. In the meantime, it is no surprise that the discussion here was mostly about general legal aspects, because these are things that are easier to ascertain. As Krampus pointed out, “at present there is a great deal more that can be said about the law than about the reports of what took place”. I don’t think that this reflects a lack of sympathy for the alleged victim, though.
@ M Bartram: “I am 100% certain that the word of the police shall be taken over the word of the accused. The judge will make certain the jury does not listen to anything the accused have to say. [...] The trial is just a formality the owners of mood-universe.com have already been found guilty.”
I am pretty certain of that, too. Regardless of whether the accusations made by the model turn out to be true or not, Mood will be hammered because of one thing or another, like tax or illegal use of the studio location. I thought they would have been more careful about that (I visited a Mood shoot once, but never knew anything about how their business was set up, exactly). But, apparently, they were not. Which makes things all the more easy for the authorities.
My thinking is: while one can be rightfully critical about some of the things Mood did (yes, they should have hired more accurate tops, for one thing, and they were probably naive about some of the legal aspects), the way in which they were now “destroyed”, with a commando-style police raid, plenty of sensationalist reporting and a trial that will probably be anything but fair, leaves a bad taste also.
hey frants, there are two shops where i am that sell copies for 25 us dollars.
the other place sells them for 50. between both shops they have about 45-50 titles.
i now own 27. i bought 6 in the last 5 days. im gonna buy them all. they have both mood and elite pain.
Great, el.
But are they pirate copies (good ones?) or legal and authorised?
May I ask in what city you are?
im in new york city, usa. i actually think the dvds are probably “pirated”, but they are perfectly flawless with trailers, extras, and everything.
probably not “legal”or “authorized” copies, but they are identical to what you would buy from the mood or elite websites (but for less cash).
their are a few websites (erod*d) that have elite/mood films. but im happy knowing i can just walk to my local pornshop and buy them directly.
whats the hardest mood/elite pain dvd you have ever seen?
im not sure for me, but the elite pain films are always a bit “harder”.
im on a mission top buy all i can from mood or elite pain, as im convinced they will become VERY scarce and go up in price, or just banned straight out, and taked off the market.
pity.
Dear el, when you start making bucks on this pirate business, send a grateful thought to Pedro and his friends who made that possible. And send them a contribution of 25% of the profit you make, eh? Ludwig may help you to find a way to do it, I am sure.
i wont be making any bucks on any “pirate” business, because i have no plans to sell them.
so there is no “profit” involved here, only enjoyment of the material made by mood/elite pain.
Unfortunately I think it’s pretty likely Mood did continue after the girl said no, that’s the basic issue here fantasy and reality shouldn’t be mixed up
Sex, lies and videotape: based on my total information and knowlege of the Mood crowd, I dont think it is likely that what that girl said is true. But going on guessing and believing is useless, the answer is in the footage, and that will emerge eventually. We will just have to be patient.
And hope the Budapest police will soon dismiss the case, or charge someone with something, based on their investigation.
el,
can you help me by telling me where to pick up the DVDs in NYC. I’m not close but want to make a special trip to get them.
Hey Leo ( hope your not law enforcement officer), all I can say is seek and you shall find.
I don’t want to give specifics because I don’t want the stores to be overrun by people looking to buy them all.
most of the porn shops in NYC are concentrated in one midtown area.
just look along 8th ave in midtown.
the other spot in in the same area, only more east (5th and 6th).
sorry, I’d tell more, but you ( or anyone reading) could be someone looking to find ” pirate” mood/elite films, and have them removed or confiscated.
I’m not even sure they are ” pirate” copies. They might be authentic.
I just don’t wanna risk not being able to buy these anymore.
just bought ” the exam”. Amazing film. Bertha black is so hot. Man she got her ass beat.
Peace.
Police raid again, and it’s coming closer to home (I mean your home!)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7358039/Sex-dungeon-found-in-sleepy-Devon-village.html
Mood and Elite sites now claim to coming back soon. Does anyone have any more details?
Who says?
Click on Mood Pictures and Elite Pain website wherer there is a message stating they will be back soon.
I do not know anymore than that.
Yes. Great! The message wasnt there when I first checked. “Coming back soon” it says indeed.
So we will learn what has happened there, soon.
(I was worried that I wouldnt get the recent “Mood Castings”.)
Anyone heard from the producers?
Or the actors?
Or the police?
Or the lawyers
EL, I’m headed to NYC to get the tapes and seeing a pro-domme. She’s staying in Chelsea and I’m arriving at Penn Station. If I were to start on 33rd and go downtown to 23rd on 8th, would I be able to find the shops you speak of, or must I head the uptown from 33rd. Would a walk up/down 8th be sufficient or do I still need to go to 5th/6th. Believe me, I’m a collector like yourself, valuing quality. I have already started to purchase DVDs from Europe, but if they could be had for cheaper in NYC, I’m there. ~ Thanks
yo leo, sorry i took so long to answer.
start on 34th and 8th ave and walk up to 40th or 41st and 8th ave.
the shops on 8th ave and 40th or 41st.
the other is on like 37th and 5th or 6th.
EL, I went this morning having just missed your post. I veered off of 8th Avenue after having no luck and found a huge store on 40th. The proprietor claimed he’s the only store to carry them. The price was like $25/each. I bought as many as I could carry ~20. I only negotiated about a 10% discount, but I was in a rush to catch the Amtrak back. I haven’t watched any yet, I hope the quality is good. Thanks.
EL, I’d like to keep in touch with you since you are a great resource for NYC. Our exchanges are also getting a little off-topic. Could you email me at chiatelin5000@yahoo.com so we can continue off-line. Thanks.
has anyone spoken to/heard from the producers yet?
leo, ill e-mail you. i think you found the shop. 25 bucks is the price they were being sold for.
If I were Ludwig I’d be steering clear of Hungary for a while. The legal concept of retrospectivity in such matters may be applied to him as he’s openly admitted several times elsewhere to taking part in thrashing bottoms at Mood.
Personally I’ve never liked any of the bloody depictions from Eastern Europe. Too far from my own comfort zone.
FJ
@ FJ: Thanks for being so concerned about me, but if the police really wanted to go after the tops who have thrashed girls in Mood Pictures videos, they could start with several dozen people who reside right there in Hungary. People who have starred not just in one video, but in a boatload of them: Lady Jessica, Lady Jenny, Angie Vicious, Pokemon, and so on and so forth…
They are not doing that, however, because it is too much trouble, and because it is not the real goal, anyway. The real goal was to simply shut down the company.
As well as that, one wee difference between the Mood video I participated in and the current affair is that, in the video I participated in, there certainly weren’t any non-consensual beatings. Nor even accusations thereof.
So, the only case that could be brought forward is that the video was “technically illegal” for some reason – if, for instance, it is claimed that one cannot consent to a thrashing that draws blood under Hungarian law. Even so, that would be a pretty weak case, against a pretty marginal person (a one-time “guest star”). If I were in the place of the authorities, I’d be reluctant to go to the effort of prosecuting it.
In other words, I see no great cause for concern that would prevent me from spending my summer holidays in Budapest. And if you turn out to be right after all, maybe they will at least let me blog from jail, eh? *winks*
I recently found that they are re-opening. Thanx for the info. I often wondered what happened them after they went off the air. If u get ne updates keep me posted. Thanks
Could be that it was some kind of turf war, or cops not being paid off enough. Personally I’ve moved away from much of the ‘scene’ due to commercialisation and heavy-handed thugs moving in like the Mafia.
FJ
Yes, the Mood people are gradually coming back in business.
They have a new site: http://caning-casting.com/
As usual some very pretty models and too severe for me.
sadly the “new” website “caning-casting”, does not appear to be as “severe” as the elite/mood films.
i know its the same company, but the material just doesn’t look as brutal.
i know the “elite pain” site says “coming soon”, but i really doubt they will ever come back.
I was waiting for this to happen for years. Why? It is not a matter of law and order, not a matter of “Orwellian misuse of power”, not “anti-porn”, anti-liberal etc.
Those movies were NOT about SM. They were about torture. 9 out of 10 girls obviously hated to be caned like that and the whole atmosphere in that movies were cold, disrespectful and 100% unerotic. Even the tops had no idea of real SM: they were just beating some poor women bloody without knowing what they were doing, hitting in the kidney area etc. Call it fascist and you are quite right..
Mood and the leading characters involved clearly showed off a cynical, barbarian, unerotic, fascist attitude in their body language, speeches and behaviour.
And suddenly the shit hit the fan – too late if you ask me.
I agree with ElTopo. Mood stuff never appealed to me in any way. Blood and gore all over the place, simulated or real, I’ve no idea.
There was certainly nothing erotic about their movies for me. I’d rather have a wank over highway ‘roadkill’.
ELITE PAIN/ MOOD PICTURES best films ever. the utter brutality of the beatings and tortures is wjat made them so great.
if you don’t like the material don’t view it.
watching the women totally get their asses PUNISHED is something that was not duplicated by ANY other company, thus making elite/mood films rare and only for the true appreciator of such fine material.
i love watching them. i own 32 now.
I could complain about all the videos I dont like too, the very soft otk spankings, the ultralight cane tapping, there are som new very bad ones in Spankingtube now, made in a country very close to mine, – but I dont. Each to their own, if people like to watch that (imo) crap, fine. I avoid those places.
As the earlier writer said, ‘if you don’t like them, switch off’, Frants.
At least we lovers of fine and refined spanking and caning don’t run the risk of being raided, accused of brutality and exploiting poverty-stricked young women, none of whom would normally seek such treatment.
At least the women who choose to bend over for me do it for love of what we do, never for payment.
But, if that’s your shtick, you’re welcome to it.
@ FatherJon: “Blood and gore all over the place, simulated or real, I’ve no idea.”
I would have thought that, if there is one “good” thing about this whole sordid affair, it would be that the doubts about whether these videos are real had been erased once and for all. But, apparently, some conspiracy theories never die out.
“…and exploiting poverty-stricked young women…”
Apparently, the urban legends about poor, starving Eastern European girls being exploited by ruthless pornographers don’t die out, either. Despite my behind-the-scenes reports and interviews with models like Victoria Young, who most certainly wasn’t poverty-stricken.
“At least we lovers of fine and refined spanking and caning don’t run the risk of being raided, accused of brutality…”
This is naive thinking. Just last month, a “sex dungeon” in Devon, England, was raided simply because neighbours had reported “unusual behaviour” and “strange sounds”. That’s all it takes sometimes.
There will always be prejudice and, once in a while, over-eager police action against practitioners of BDSM. Sticking to the soft and playful variety might put you a bit more on the “safe side”, but it won’t make you immune to harassment. Neither will it improve your status in the eyes of those bigoted idiots who view all of us kinky people as “perverts”, regardless of how hard or soft we play.
“At least the women who choose to bend over for me do it for love of what we do, never for payment.”
Which is great if it makes you feel good, but it doesn’t make you a better human being. In moral terms, as long as everything is consensual, there is no difference between a “vanilla” model shooting a spanking video for money and a hairdresser giving you a haircut for money.
As Adele already pointed out two months ago, when this discussion started: hiring vanilla models is pretty much the industry standard among producers of spanking videos. That may not be a great state of things (personally, I’d prefer to live in a perfect world where all spanking videos are made by genuine, kinky enthusiasts), but the point is, it’s not fair to sngle out and condemn Mood for a practice that most other video producers (including those in the UK) use as well.
I hope Mood Pictures and Elite pain can be online again. The model who reported it to the cops must be wanting compensation or money as she was already in a terrible financial situation.
The model should not even signed the contract as she should have known that S&M practices are brutal.She’s just a total b*tch, if someone do not like this act, they should just switch the telly off or go some other place … geez ><
Wel, the Conservatives (“Freedom Party”) and the Far Right have won the Hungarian election. At present their main aim seems to be to screw the Gypsies; I have no idea whether they care about beaten spanking models.
I hear their new gvmnt is going to sponsor Mood.