Portrait of a pornologist

This week on Naked City TV, renowned pornologist, apparent friend to every third person living in New York City and winner of the CineKink 2005 Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary, Michele Capozzi talks about his many passions and life as an explorer of the underground.

Pronto?

Viva returns!

For those fortunates living in the NYC-metro area, another chance to take in Viva, as it opens for a run at Cinema Village on Friday.

Winner of the Audience Choice Award for Best Narrative Feature at CineKink 2008, Viva is a gorgeously stylized film that draws on classic exploitation cinema for its look, characters and story-line, giving us the sordid story of a bored housewife who gets swept up in the sexual revolution - nudists, swingers, hippies, orgies and lesbians - oh, my!



The film's multi-hyphenated director and star, the lovely and delightful Anna Biller, will be on hand during weekend screenings, along with her charming co-star Jared Sanford.

Tickets are available here!

Too hot for Dallas!

The perennial crowd-pleaser and CineKink award winner, Filthy Food, has run into another flap of controversy, this time at the AFI Dallas International Film Festival.

According to director T. Arthur Cottam, the trailer for the film was prevented from being posted to the event's website for fear of offending AFI Dallas sponsors and the already printed cover for Day 3 of the festival's newspaper was ordered destroyed and replaced because it prominently featured an image (above!) from the film. (A bootleg copy of the original cover has been posted to the Dirty Little Shorts Yahoo Group.)

But an interview with T. - and a red carpet photo with a giant banana - did make its way into Day 11 of the AFI Dallas Daily News and touches upon controversies past and present. From the intro:

A nectarine, a banana, cookie dough – all banned. All forbidden to be shown onscreen at a film festival in Italy because they apparently would end civil society as we know it (or at least, as the Italians know it). That is the talent of T. Arthur Cottam and his film, FILTHY FOOD, in a nutshell. By the sheer weight of his presentation, he made some fruit and some dough naughty. More than naughty – disgusting, even.

Judge for yourself. You can watch the trailer, below. Or visit Atom Films to watch the smutty masterpiece in its glorious entirety!

Mom would be so proud ... 2008

Last year when we reported on these awards, it was our mother's birthday. And this year, appropriately enough, we're actually home visiting her - in our mind, the proto-uber feminist.

So, while we're still working on making the world a place where a woman’s right to determine and enjoy her own sexual pleasure is a taken-for-granted aspect of daily life, we take a few more big steps forward with the recently announced "2008 Feminist Porn Awards" presented by the folks at Good for Her:

Smutty Schoolteacher of the Year:
Tristan Taormino’s Expert Guide to Oral Sex Part 1 Cunnilingus and Part 2 Fellatio | Tristan Taormino; Vivid Ed

Hottest Dyke Film:
Crash Pad Series Volume 1 | Shine Louise Houston; Pink and White Productions Blowfish Video
(Alum CineKink 2008)

Sexiest Straight Film:
My Sex Therapist.com: The First Sessions | Kelly Holland; Chick Media

Golden Beaver Award for Canadian Content:
Bren Ryder | www.gooddykeporn.com

Best Bi Scene:
Female Fantasies | Petra Joy; Strawberry Seductress Productions
(Alum CineKink 2008)

Most Tantalizing Trans Film:
Trans Entities: The Nasty Love of Papi' and Wil | Morty Diamond; Morty Diamond Productions

Hottest Kink Film:
Bondage Boob Tube | Madison Young; Blowfish Video
(Alum CineKink 2008)

Deliciously Diverse Cast:
Trans Entities: The Nasty Love of Papi' and Wil | Morty Diamond; Morty Diamond Productions

Sexiest Short:
Want | Loree Erickson; Femmegimp Productions
(Winner/Best Documentary Short CineKink 2006)

Indie Porn Pioneer:
Estelle Joseph; Stella Films Productions

Movie of the Year(!!):
Five Hot Stories for Her | Erika Lust; Lust Films
(Winner/Honorable Best Mention CineKink 2008 for Something About Nadia)



From what Erika recounts, upon bestowing the final award, the presenters said:
“Every so often, a film comes along that reinvents what is possible within porn. This year’s winner has taken stock subjects and turned them on their head, making women and their desires the focus of the film..."

We couldn't have said it better ourselves - though we wish we had!

Congratulations to Erika and all of this year's winners, with many thanks for forging ahead.

Come together (or come apart)

Last night, as part of our Valentine's Ode to the Orgasm, we were supposed to screen Kirby Ferguson's climactic video, Come Together (or Come Apart). Unfortunately, due to technical circumstances that might have actually been within our control were we not also in the midst of yet another Mercury in retrograde, we were unable to do so.

So, as promised to those very intrepid souls who braved a blustery mix of rain and snow to pack the Pioneer Theater - and for the rest of you pussies who stayed home, all cozy and warm - here it is!



Kirby is, of course, a two-time CineKink alum, whose previous offerings with us include last festival's award-winning Do You Take It...? and the very popular Polly Wally in 2005.

Tonight...

CineKink @ Pioneer/Tuesday, October 9th @ 7 pm

Liberty in Restraint










"A fascinating programme that provides much insight into the nature of BDSM and the communities involved. Its style is frank and revelatory but also refreshingly non-judgemental."
Tony Mitchell - Skin Two #52

More info, tickets and a preview trailer are here!

Bite the Apple!

As part of New York Leather Weekend, CineKink presents a fundraiser for the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom ....

Friday, October 5th – 9 pm

CineKink, "the really alternative film festival," presents a special screening of film and video shorts from New York directors for a celebration of kinky Gotham. Dark and gritty, sleek and sophisticated, seamy and ... well, come and take a bite for yourself!!

On My Knees
Directed by Kim Wood, 2003, USA, 13 minutes.
Culled from the secret diaries of Hannah Cullwick, a Victorian fetishist and “maid-of-all-work,” a life of unabashed deviance is traced.

DragonLily
Directed by Napoleon Lake, 2005, USA, 21 minutes. On a stroll around Greenwich Village, DragonLily discovers Steven Speliotis' book Asia Bondage and is transported to her own explicit fantasy world of intricate bondage.

The Black Glove
Directed by Maria Beatty, 1996, USA, 30 minutes.The flame of the candle that illuminates and torments, reveals the wondrous form of the willing slave, whose haunting, wide eyes and full, parted lips recall the classic silent screen goddesses.

Meat
Directed by Joe Gallant, 2005, USA, 7 minutes.
A meditation on love in the crosshairs, the post-mod tectonic power-shift so visible in contemporary relationships.

Plus, for the first-time ever altogether!
CineKink Trailer Redux
Directed by Lisa Vandever, 2003-06, USA, 10 minutes.Since its start in 2003, CineKink has featured various NYC scene illuminaries in the trailer that runs before each festival program. With titles including Gay Cowboys Eating Pudding, CineKink Veterans for Truth, You Horah! and Sissies Gone Wild! - who do you know?!?

For more info!

CineKink-at-a-Glance

We've had so much going on in our New York calendar lately, it's been hard for everyone (especially us!) to keep on top of where we are when. And October's looking especially hectic...

Friday, October 5th - 9 pm
CineKink's "Bite the Apple!" @ New York Leather Weekend

Saturday, October 6th - noon
CineKink scopes the scene at NYC's Poly Pride Day Picnic
(and, energy permitting, Poly Pride dance that evening)

Sunday, October 7th - 2 pm
CineKink @ New York Leather Weekend's Street Fair

Tuesday, October 9th - 7 pm
CineKink @ Pioneer - LIBERTY IN RESTRAINT

Thursday, October 11th - 8 pm
NEW! Save the date for a special CineKink appearance by The Wet Spots!
More info coming soon...

Showbears!

In this latest from CineKink alum, David Quantic, follow the cut-throat auditions for Showbears, just one of several fantastical cinema-to-Broadway offerings in the works:



Once you're there, rummage around David's YouTube for the rest in his series of trailers for the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival - and then be sure to set your sights on the wonders of his Eargasm (CineKink/2005).

Sad news from Australia

From director Michael Ney comes word that photographer Noel Graydon died last week from heart failure.

Subject of the documentary, Liberty in Restraint, which played CineKink in both short (Best Documentary Short/CineKink 2004) and feature (CineKink 2005) versions, Noel had been a fixture of the Sydney fetish world for over a decade. For five years he trained and worked as a BDSM Master, aka "Master Venom," and established the friendships which led him to genuinely photograph and capture this sometimes clandestine world.

Noel began his career as an assistant to a commercial photographer and assistant video cameraman in several video production companies. During this time he pursued freelance photojournalism with several newspapers and street press. As a photojournalist, Noel covered a variety of fields including humanities, Gen X and sexual lifestyle issues. His work was published in many magazines in Australia, as well as in the UK's SkinTwo. He also spent time with Flesh magazine as their BDSM columnist and recently launched a series of podcasts documenting many aspects of the fetish world.

The funeral will be held Friday, July 13 in Brisbane, Australia, with his wife, Annette, and their two daughters, as well as his parents and sister.  Noel was 36.

Our very best thoughts to his family, friends and colleagues. Noel will surely be missed.

The Kinky 10 14 15!

The original posts brushed teasingly through our consciousness back when we were in the full, happy thrust of SXSWing and, while we meant to come back for a good going over at the very first opportunity - well, you know how that goes. Just too. many. shiny. things.

But, we've returned - we always do! - for a closer look at ScreenGrab's list of the Kinkiest Films Ever Made, part one and part two:

Peter Coyote in a pig mask. Joan Chen getting her foot sucked off in Cinemascope. James Spader spanking Maggie Gyllenhaal. James Spader screwing a scar on someone’s leg. James Spader doing anything, come to think of it. Some of us just have a taste for the bizarre. Of course, that also makes creating a list of the kinkiest films a bit of a minefield. After all, one man’s aphrodisiac is another man’s bellybutton cheese – sometimes literally so.

After a nice nod to CineKink - yes, forgiveness is at hand, if that's what you really want - they go on to spell out some of the ground-rules for picking the top ten. Which became the top 14. Which looks to be evolving into a sequel, for which they'd happily welcome your suggestions.

Of the list, several had long ago been duly and hopefully noted for our possible inclusion at a future screening. (So, who does hold the exhibition rights to In the Realm of the Senses?) And a few others we've already had the pleasure of programming. But some left us dashing for our NetFlix queue. Especially now that we've been educated in the ways of Zoo, we can't wait to see what Jane Fonda gets up to with that horse in Spirits of the Dead! (Somehow we'd always just figured that was some old Bergman snoozer.)

As to potential additions, several spring to mind. But since the list seems a bit mired in gloom and doom, we thought we'd first add some happy S/M to the mix, in the form of our perennial favorite, Preaching to the Perverted, which took home the Audience Choice Award for Best Narrative at the premiere edition of CineKink NYC in 2003.



Directed by the UK's Stuart Urban, the film stars another perennial favorite, Guinevere Turner, as Tanya Cheex, a (usually) latex-clad dominatrix who runs a fetish empire on both sides of the Atlantic. Her world is violated by a young (suit-wearing!) infiltrator, dispatched by crusaders in Parliament to gather evidence against her immoral and illegal activities. Naturally, he grows infatuated and - see above - becomes quite enmeshed in much the very same. Ah, the savory rush of corrupting the fresh-faced and the righteous to a life of licentious profligacy!

But that's just us. What might be your suggested favorite kinky bit?