Jean-Marc Prouveur

His early short films, Dance Macabre and the Georges Bataille-inspired Solar Anus, were elegies to AIDS; later in the decade he moved closer to pornography.

Prouveur has a natural affection for the male body, and his photographic talents aided him in transforming that love to photography and video.

Liquid London started making art house films then softcore releases, but when laws in the United Kingdom changed in 1999, the studio entered the hardcore realm.

"The films in general are either based on real-life characters, such as in Gamins d'Auvergne - where Jean-Marc has sought inspiration from Wilhelm von Gloeden, the 19th-century gay photographer - or on fictitious stories such as Rascals or Lust & Betrayal."

The Italian "new wave" from the 1960s – which included directors Bernardo Bertolucci and Federico Fellini – also had an influence, followed by the exciting new generation of filmmakers from Spain (like Pedro Almodovar) and Britain (Danny Boyle).