Scott Feinberg writes on http://latimesblogs.latimes.com- Last Thursday evening, Sasha Grey, one of the world’s most popular porn stars, joined me at Brandeis University for an exclusive interview after a screening of “The Girlfriend Experience,” Steven Soderbergh’s critically acclaimed new — and mainstream — film in which she stars.

(The event marked the latest installment of the “Meet the Artist” screening and Q&A series on which Brandeis professor Alice Kelikian and I have collaborated, after visits over the last year by the likes of Alan Alda, Kate Beckinsale, Richard Jenkins, Melissa Leo, Mark Ruffalo and Michael Shannon.)

Early word of Grey’s impending visit set the city of Boston abuzz, and — as we learned via blogs, Twitter, talk radio and newspaper columns — she is not someone who engenders mild feelings. Some said they had never before heard of or seen her; others said they had heard and seen a lot of her. Some said they vehemently disapproved of what she did for a living; others said they couldn’t get enough of her work. Some were outraged that a prestigious university would invite her to visit its campus and that a respected publication would want to interview her; others — especially the 300 students who managed to snag a ticket to the event — were just plain happy that we did.

So, why did we? Well, to clear things up, for two main reasons: (1) “The Girlfriend Experience” is a significant film, and (2) Grey is, in her own way, a significant filmmaker. Allow me to elaborate…

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“The Girlfriend Experience” is the 20th feature film directed by Soderbergh, one of the most admired and respected filmmakers working today. Before coming to Brandeis, it was test-screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January, had its official premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 28, and screened there again April 29, whereupon Variety called it a “fascinating study” and an “arthouse gem” that “finds the helmer in top, and truly topical, form.”

Set in and shot during October 2008 in New York — not long after the Eliot Spitzer scandal broke and the nation’s economic collapse began — it takes us into the world of a $2,000-an-hour escort (Grey) as she juggles personal and professional relationships; real and pretend emotions; and a lifestyle that is both extremely rewarding (financially) and extremely tolling (on the mind, body,and sometimes even the heart).

Twenty years ago, Soderbergh tackled a similar subject in “Sex, Lies, and Videotape” (1989), which kick-started the indie movement. He went on to earn two best director Oscar nominations — one for “Erin Brockovich” (2000), and the other, which he won, for directing “Traffic” (2000). These days, he splits his time between directing big commercial fare like the “Oceans 11” trilogy (2001, 2004 and 2007) and smaller passion projects like “Bubble” (2005), “Che” (2008), and this one, which was shot in just 16 days, was overseen by a crew of fewer than a dozen and stars a group of people who had never before appeared on camera — with one notable exception.

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SASHA Twenty-one-year-old Sasha Grey not only plays a woman who makes her living through sex; she is one. Grey has worked in porn for three years, starred in over 150 adult films and won last year’s AVN Female Performer of the Year Award, the highest honor in adult entertainment. Consequently, she is probably as qualified as anyone to shed light on the inner workings of this least discussed but most consistently profitable sector of the film industry.

Sex has never been a bigger seller than it is today. Over 13,000 new X-rated DVDs will be released this year. Thousands of new porn sites will join the hundreds of thousands already accessible with just a few clicks of the mouse. And the adult entertainment industry overall will reportedly earn over $13 billion this year. (It’s so big, in fact, that some representatives of it recently requested — and I’m not making this up — a federal bailout.)

That said, how often have you heard or seen it discussed in any meaningful way?

Our society has never been more open. These days, we openly discuss virtually everything. And yet the one subject that can still make us blush is sex, even though we are all the product of it, most of us know about it, many of us practice it, and lots of us — clearly — watch it.

I, for one, believe that the phenomenal popularity of adult entertainment is too big to ignore any longer, and that we might learn a lot about our society and ourselves by actually, dare I say, letting loose and talking about it. Fortunately, Grey agreed.

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The resulting video, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/files/2009/05/sasha-grey.html which can be seen at the top of this post, runs for roughly an hour. In it, I pose questions to Grey (about the film, her life and her opinions on matters both heavy and light) and then open the floor to Brandeis students, who have several questions of their own. It features some questionable language (the worst of it has been bleeped) and is not suitable for children or a workplace environment.