Directed by Brigitte Berman

Hugh Hefner-editor, businessman, playboy…revolutionary? This new documentary examines a side of Hef not often portrayed in the media.
Not the millionaire casa nova with three hot blondes on his arm, but the industrious pioneer of free thought and sexual revolution who helped inspire a generation, challenge the status quo, and “[create] enormous damage to the civil texture of society.” The film brings together actors, writers, celebrities, musicians, civil rights leaders, professors, psychologists, and feminists to analyze and describe Hugh Hefner as an activist-from celebrating his liberation of sex and the female form to decrying his objectification of female sexuality, these interviews capture a man as vivid as the half-century that saw the rise to dominance, and the temporary fall from grace, of his Playboy empire. From exposing black artists to mainstream America through his late night television show, to publishing controversial writers and illuminating interviews, it is easy to forget the effect a magazine like Playboy had on the landscape of Eisenhower-era America. Capturing the contrast most eloquently is one scene in the film-when Hefner’s ‘Big Bunny,’ the Playboy airplane, transports Vietnam war orphans across the country in the care of attentive bunnies. Love him or hate him, you won’t want to miss this illuminating deconstruction of one of the twentieth century’s most interesting, colourful, and influential characters.