Content piracy and the proliferation of adult tube sites have contributed to pornography becoming “uglier and nastier” over the past decade, according to a French documentary set to make its world debut in March during SXSW in Austin, Texas.

Pornocracy has not been screened, so little is known about the film itself. However, producer/director Ovidie, an award-winning adult performer and director who retired from on-camera work in 2003, said she is not critical of pornography itself. She does, however, feel the economic pressures on the industry have contributed to a broken system. Far fewer films are made, she said, and those that are made generate far less revenue than they once did. Consequently, performers must accept fees up to 10 times less and shoot far more hardcore content in order to make a living. Content producers, especially on the web, feel they must continually ramp up the edginess of their material in order to capture market share.

In short, the art has departed, leaving the adult industry the filmmaking equivalent of a factory farm.

Ovidie is no anti-porn activist, nor is she an apologist for the industry. Known as L’intello du porno (“the porn-star intellectual”) in France, she began appearing in pornographic films not for money or sex, but out of an interest in how various forms of physical expression interacted with women’s sense of self. As a self-described “militant feminist,” she admits she once felt sorry for adult performers, believing they were trapped in a situation not of their choosing. After meeting several in 1999, however, she found herself impressed by their self-determination and innate strength.

Today, the “mainstreaming” of porn has made consumption more acceptable even as the industry bleeds to death. She lays the blame solely on pirates and tube sites, particularly tube sites owned by MindGeek, which Ovidie calls the most powerful company in porn. She said she was surprised to discover a company founded by a group of computer programmers with no experience experience in adult entertainment “hijacked the adult industry” from “an empty office” in Luxembourg.

As evidence of the kind of financial power tube sites as a group (not just those belonging to MindGeek) wield, she cited Marc Dorcel chief Gregory Dorcel’s revelation in Pornocracy. According to Dorcel, 95 percent of the 100 billion porn clips watched on the web last year were pirated. His company alone has submitted 5 million takedown requests. Although MindGeek and other legitimate tube-site operators are quick to remove unlicensed material, “48 hours later the videos are back online,” Ovidie said.

She admits there is no easy solution.

The documentary is a featured selection at SXSW.

Image: Ovidie, via MySpace.