I've got your stimulus package, right here!

Speaking of Sarah Palin... here she is, appearing in last year's festival trailer for CineKink NYC:



Okay, now... go vote!

Best of NYC!

A lovely gift greeted our return from Berlin this week... the realization that we'd been selected by the Village Voice for their annual "Best of NYC" issue!



We're naturally very honored that the publication has distinguished us as being the city's Best Way to Watch Smutty Movies:

If you're wary of catching an Xtube virus and are looking for cleaner digs than whatever's left of Times Square's naughty picture joints, CineKink NYC is there for you. Each February, this festival provides the means for you to ditch the laptop and the privacy of your own home, and enjoy kinky film the way it's meant to be enjoyed—in the company of strangers, of course.

Of course! (Though if you'd like to bring a friend along, that's perfectly fine, too.)

Read along here for the rest of the accolades...

Special sneak preview...American Swing

The Museum of Sex and Magnolia Pictures invite CineKinksters to a special advance screening of American Swing, the new documentary about the rise and fall of the infamous NYC swing club, Plato's Retreat...

Monday, March 23rd @ 7:30PM

Museum of Sex
233 Fifth Avenue, NYC

RSVP required to:
sylvia@ddanielspr.net

Please note ‘CineKink” in your RSVP – we have a limited number of seats available, so act quickly!

The year was 1977 and New York City burned. As the metropolis hurtled into bankruptcy, the city's nightlife hit unprecedented heights. In midtown, the ultra-exclusive Studio 54 was a cocaine-fueled celebrity playhouse. Downtown, at the spartan CBGB's, punk rockers set out to destroy everything Pop. Meanwhile, in the basement of the prestigious Ansonia building on the conservative Upper West Side, Plato's Retreat opened its doors to ordinary couples who came to dance, to swim, and...to swap.

Includes a post-screening Q&A with co-directors Mathew Kaufman and Jon Hart.

American Swing will open in New York on March 27th at the Quad Cinema and in Los Angeles on April 3 at the Sunset 5.

You be the judge!

You put all that time in the seats, be sure to let us know what you think!

Our CineKink community on B-Side gives you the ability to rate your favorites (and, though hard to fathom, not-so-favorites) and leave reviews on the films you saw throughout the festival.

These reviews are keenly anticipated by our filmmakers, fellow audience members, other festival programmers and all of us at CineKink, as we use them to help determine and promote bookings for our upcoming tour appearances.

All you need to take part is an email address, just register here and pass along your thoughts.

At the movies...

Come join us...!

CineKink-at-a-Glance!

We hope you're using your time to rest up and get ready for the festivities, as CineKink NYC is set for its return appearance February 24th to March 1st, with a jam-packed schedule full of things you won't want to miss.

Tuesday, February 24
8:00 pm - Kick-Off Gala & Fundraiser

Wednesday, February 25
6:45 pm - Sex Positive
9:00 pm - MindFLESH

Thursday, February 26
6:45 pm - Whips & Restraint
9:00 pm - Lipsticks & Crinoline

Friday, February 27
6:45 pm - The Workshop
9:00 pm - Wanton Female Desire
11:10 pm - Graphic Sexual Horror

Saturday, February 28
12:30 pm - Kinky
2:30 pm - Happy Endings?
4:30 pm - Marta's Sex Tape
6:45 pm - Twisted Knickers
9:00 pm - The Auteur
11:10 pm - Bring It! (adult cinema showcase)

Sunday, March 1
6:00 pm - Awards Celebration
8:30 pm - AfterGlow Party!

For all the salacious details, visit http://www.cinekink.bside/films/ and
click on the films and events like to know more about.

Coming soon!

As you're hopefully well aware by now, CineKink NYC is getting set for its sixth annual appearance February 24-March 1, 2009, again bringing you a specially-curated program of films and videos that celebrate and explore a wide diversity of sexuality.

While we fine-tune and finesse the last details of the program line-up, to be announced very soon, be sure to block out your calendar so you don't miss a single second of the CineKinky wonders!

Tuesday, February 24 - 8 pm/Kick-Off Gala

2/25 - 6:45 pm/+ Screenings @ Anthology Film Archives
2/26 - 6:45 pm/+ Screenings @ Anthology Film Archives
2/27 - 6:45 pm/+ Screenings @ Anthology Film Archives
2/28 - 12:30 pm/+ Screenings @ Anthology Film Archives

Sunday, March 1
6 pm/Awards Celebration
8 pm/AfterGlow Party

More info...soon!

Farewell, Pioneer...

Somehow escaping notice in our post-election haze was the closing of the Pioneer Theater, a venerable Lower East Side institution and home to our monthly CineKink screening series for a brief but happy duration.

Reportedly another victim of rising real estate costs in the neighborhood, the theater held its final screening on Halloween night and a send-off gathering last Friday. While we didn't make it to the last shindig, we're proud to have a prominent presence in the Pioneer's round-up of testimonials, an inscription left by one of our movie-goers, Maritess, posted here verbatim since we're not sure how long it will last anywhere else:

Saw "Annie Sprinkle's Amazing World of Orgasm" in the "Cine-kink" festival with other "cutting edge" films like..."My Pussy is Magic" (WTF?) and other questionably artistic films. Thank God for the Pioneer Theater, this was Sprinkle's NYC movie premiere, which is surprising because it was such a great film, made in 2004.

A few of the artists in the festival (except for Annie Sprinkle--boo!) held a Q and A afterwards, which was amusing because the audience was clearly stimulated, people shifting in seats, couples making out.While in this state, I thanked GOD for the surprising lack of super-creepy guys watching this flick alone, the audience was comprised of intellectual pervs like me, with a facade of decorum and sophistication, masking public porno watching with academic curiosity.

Although it is a tiny theater, the seats were in great shape, cushy, clean, so unlike what I would expect a clearly non profit independent theater to be like.

The staff is soooo nice, laid back and friendly. Even the concession stand looks friendly, ,mostly because it is not the cookie cutter concession stands of the corporate movie cineplexes. Hooray for independent film houses!

Hooray--and adieu!

Slap on your leathers and come on down!

CineKink @ New York Leather Weekend - TONIGHT!
As part of NYLW, a weekend-long celebration of NYC's almost-back-to-burgeoning leather scene, we're presenting 'Give and Take,' a kinky collection of shorts that probe, prod and play with the dynamics of sexual control and submission. Assume the position!

Date/Time:
Friday, October 10 - 8 pm

Location:
LGBT Community Center
208 W. 13th Street (bet. 7/8th), NYC

More info and full program line-up is here!

Come tryst with us!

CineKink's Tawdry Summer Tryst!

Tuesday, August 5th - 8 pm
The Red Room @ KGB Complex
85 E. 4th Street (@ 2nd Ave)

It's our fifth anniversary and we'll be mixing it up at The Red Room to celebrate! Cozy up to a new best friend, sink back into air-conditioned comfort and heat up with CineKink's anniversary revisit with a few of our favorite, recent hook-ups ...

TEAT BEAT OF SEX (Signe Baumane)
Three animated lectures on sex.

SALT (Campbell Farquhar)
A shared passion for food - and other things.

HIGHWAY AMAZON (Ronnie Cramer)
A meet up with bodybuilder Christine Fetzer, who earns her living traveling the country and wrestling men on hotel room beds.

IN YER ROOM (Bobby McNasty)
Ol' Blue Eyes never sang it quite like this.

THE PARTY (Jessica Rotondi)
A guy drags his girlfriend to a craigslist "Make-out Party," but soon discovers it wasn't quite what he expected.

HIGH INFIDELITY (David Hansen)
The filmmaker examines his own ideas about sex and love by venturing into the world of swingers, where partners are interchangeable and have virtually nothing to hide.

and

THE GOOD GIRL (Erika Lust)
Alex is a high-powered exec who thinks about sex a lot, but rarely acts upon her desires and never takes the initiative. Until now, that is.

Cocktails to follow, downstairs at KGB Bar.

More info and advance tickets - highly recommended - are here!

Boom-chucka-oy!

What do you get when you mix madcap Jewish humor with the Superstars of Seventies porn?

Find out when CineKink proudly sponsors a Kinky Jews presentation of A Touch of Genie, director Joe Sarno's long-lost tribute to a boyhood spent at raucous Lower East Side comedies (and an adulthood spent writing and directing some of the finest adult films to ever grace a grindhouse screen).

From the After Hours Cinema description of their recently restored classic: "Poor Melvin! His meddling mother is making him nutz. His only relief is the covert afternoons he spends at New York's notorious Times Square porn theaters. One day, Melvin discovers a genie in a bottle. What does he wish? To become his favorite porno superstars and indulge in wild sexual adventures with the sexiest women in sex film."

Starring Doug Stone as Melvin Finkelfarb and Ultramax - the First Lady of New York Porn! - as his yiddishe mama, along with over-the-top performances by porno greats Harry Reems, Tina Russell and Eric Edwards!

A Touch of Genie

Thursday June 5, 2008

Bar Opens: 9:00 PM
Film Begins: 10:00 PM

Q&A with Doug Stone following the film

Location: KGB Bar, 85 E. 4th St. at 2nd Ave., NYC

Admission: $18, with advanced RSVP, $20 at the door
(Two drink vouchers included with admission)

RSVP/More Info: contact @ kinkyjews dot com

Of Ilsa and her ilk

A new documentary, Stalags, examines the pornographic paperbacks, featuring colorful depictions of buxom SS officers bending captives to their will, that cropped up in Israel around the time of the Holocaust trials in the early 1960s.

Claims by Max Mosley to the contrary notwithstanding - and as a subsequent slew of sexploitative titles will attest - Nazi iconography can pack a huge libidinous wollop. In a comprehensive review of the film, Lauren Wissot discusses the film's powerful dissecting of the phenomenon:

Simply put, this film is a revelation. Like the best investigative journalists, Libsker patiently sifts through each and every contradiction to discover that something that would seem so horrifically paradoxical on its face proves ultimately inevitable beneath the surface. How could Israeli Nazi pornography even exist, let alone be a widespread phenomenon? Stalags answers, “How could it not?”

Stalags open tonight at NYC's Film Forum and runs through 4/22.

Just 7,999,999 stories to go...

Many congratulations to CineKink alum Audacia Ray, whose new sexuality blog, Naked City, debuted this week at The Village Voice. While Audacia predicts that the blog will evolve over time, one feature that's already up and running is Naked City TV, a weekly video show intended to "document and explore the personal and professional lives of people for whom sexuality is central."

This week's episode, a profile of Porno Jim (CineKink '08/Hookin' Up) and his live, porn-clip show, manages to capture both the engaging frenetics of Jim's evangelistic presentations - and a few graphic moments of live-action Smurf-on-Smurf pornography:

CineKink NYC Photo Round-Up

Lest we take as long with getting these photos out as we spent on finally putting together our wedding album, herewith a few images from CineKink NYC 2008!

First up, from photographic phenom Stacie Joy, some shots of the CineKink Kick-Off Gala.


Lux Alptraum and Molly Crabapple


JZ Bich, Dizzy Swank, Cherry Bomb, Ignacio Rivera

Here's more of the set - or visit filmmaker Leah Meyerhoff's blog for another vantage.

And a few candids from around the festival taken by Viviane for Viviane's Sex Carnival:



Boymeat and Lolita Wolf


Cory Silverberg, Jamye Waxman & Candida Royalle

And back to Stacie Joy, for still more of the CineKink scene:


Tanya Bezreh and Rachel Kramer Bussel


CineKink's "Women Behind the Lens" panel

Including proof positive for the parents back home, no neglect - our birthday was celebrated indeed!


Lisa Vandever's birthday!

And the award goes to...

As promised - though slightly delayed by the lingering and distracting effects of our Afterglow - a variety of CineKink NYC awards were announced at our awards celebration on Sunday night!

AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARDS - "CineKink Choice"
CineKink Choice awards, which go to feature-length works in competition during the festival, were determined by audience balloting at the close of each eligible work's screening. The 2008 award winners are:

CineKink Choice Award for Best Documentary Feature:
"Call Me Troy" (Scott Bloom, 2007, USA, 100 minutes)

CineKink Choice Award for Best Narrative Feature:
"Viva" (Anna Biller, 2006, USA, 120 minutes)

CineKink Choice Award for Best Experimental Feature:
"Silken Sleeves" (Maria Beatty, 2006, USA, 50 minutes)

CineKink Choice Award - Honorable Mention:
"Triple X Selects: The Best of Lezsploitation"
(Michelle Johnson, 2007, USA, 48 minutes)


JURY AWARD FOR BEST SHORTS - "CineKink Best"
CineKink Best awards, which go to short works in competition during the festival, were determined by jury deliberation and ranking. The 2008 award winners are:

CineKink Best Narrative Short:
"Who's the Top?" (Jennie Livingston, 2005, USA, 22 minutes)

CineKink Best Documentary Short:
"Coming Out Spanko" (Tanya Bezreh, 2008, USA, 15 minutes)

CineKink Best Animated Short:
"Teat Beat of Sex" (Signe Baumane, 2007, USA, 4 minutes)

CineKink Best Experimental Short:
"Closer" (Aitor Echeverria, 2007, Spain, 7 minutes)
-tie-
"Salt" (Campbell Farquhar, 2006, New Zealand, 3 minutes)

Honorable Mention/Best Experimental Short:
"Crossing" (HP Comings, 2007, USA, 19 minutes)

CineKink Honorable Best Mentions:
"Office Mobius" (Seung Hyung Lee & Seungil Hwang, 2007, USA, 5 minutes)
"Something About Nadia" (Erika Lust, 2007, Spain, 21 minutes)
"Wash Me Clean" (Michael Immerman, 2008, USA, 30 minutes)

This year's jury included Thor Stockman, creator and presenter of the popular film clip program "S/M at the Movies," Viviane, ring-leader of the sex blog, "Viviane's Sex Carnival, and Bill Woods, a film festival programmer and curator of the New Filmmakers series at Anthology Film Archives.


SPECIAL FESTIVAL AWARD FOR ARTISTIC INNOVATION - "CineKink Select"
"Schwarzwald" (Richard Kimmel, 2007, USA, 59 minutes)


FESTIVAL AWARD FOR EXTRAORDINARY DEPICTION OF KINK & SEX IN MAINSTREAM FILM & TELEVISION - "CineKink Tribute"
Recognizing extraordinary depiction of kink and sex in mainstream film and television, the annual CineKink Tribute was presented to:

"Shortbus" (2006, USA, 106 minutes)
Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Screenwriter: John Cameron Mitchell
Cast: Sook-Yin Lee, Paul Dawson, Lindsay Beamish, PJ DeBoy, Raphael Barker, Jay Brannan, Peter Stickles and Justin Bond.
Producers: Howard Gertler, John Cameron Mitchell and Tim Perell
Executive Producer: Wouter Barendrecht and Alexis Fish
Distributor: ThinkFilm

CineKink Tribute Honorable Mentions (aka The CineKink Nod):
"Lust, Caution" (Focus Features)
"The Oprah Winfrey Show - 237 Reasons to Have Sex"
"Zoo" (ThinkFilm)

Many thanks and congratulations to this year's CineKink award winners - and to all of our uber-talented filmmakers!

Activism, exploration and a girl-girl double-header!

Really, what else is there?

Up at CineKink tonight, first at 7 pm, from CineKink award-winner Scott Bloom ("Original Pride" Audience Choice, CineKink/2005), it's the New York premiere of CALL ME TROY, an inspirational and moving tribute to gay activist and spiritual leader, Reverend Troy Perry. Perhaps best known as the founder of the Metropolitan Community Church - the first church to recognize the spiritual needs of the gay community - Perry has long been on the front lines in leading the charge for equality and protections for all. And, a proud leatherman, he's also been an unwavering proponent for the God-given right to embrace and explore our sexuality - just exactly as we are.

More info and tickets!




Friday/9:15
At 9:15 PM, SUSAN FOR NOW is a first-person account of a woman reclaiming her sexual freedom after a ten-year period of self-imposed celibacy. Following the filmmaker's personal quest through the sex-positive community in Seattle and into the world of sadomasochism, the film also provides insights into the hearts and minds of articulate and sincere individuals from every walk of life, and how they practice BDSM in a consensual and responsible manner. Also playing is THE LEATHERMAN, in which Norwegian S/M activist Svein Skeid takes to the streets (and dungeons) of Oslo, and the world premiere of F/F, a visit to Folsom Street and beyond with three-time-CineKink alum, Charles Lum!

More info and tickets!



Friday/11:15
And at 11:15 PM, it's SEX MANNEQUIN and SUPERFREAK, a shape-shifting, body-swapping double-header of girl-girl adventures. First up, from Maria Beatty, a mannequin comes alive to the stroke and kiss of her mistress, ready to passionately serve - and to take - in a variety of kinky ways. And then, from Shine L. Houston, the lascivious spirit of a certain funk singer crashes a girl-girl party, inhabiting the bodies of its participants and creating much erotic mayhem.

More info and tickets!

Hey, kids, it's exploitation night!

We're just getting started - still plenty of time to jump on board – and tonight at CineKink it’s a hot double-bill of steamy exploitation!

First up on Thursday, at 7:00 pm, it's TRIPLE X SELECTS: THE BEST OF LEZSPLOITATION, an international feast of lesbian-exploitation highlights from the 1960s and '70s, presented in all of their notoriously twisted glory. Accented by music reflecting the era and featuring a wacked-out scientific commentary, a compilation of selections from over twenty films brings together and re-appropriates Swedish wildcats, Italian lesbionic nuns, frisky inmates in South American prisons, Euro vampires - and a vast assortment of other Sapphic grindhouse frolics. Plays with the kinky shorts PILLOW GIRL and HIGHWAY AMAZON, along with the world premiere of three-time-CineKink alum T. Arthur Cottam's DIRTY WORDS: THE LETTER C!

More info and tickets: right here!

Then, at 9 PM, it's VIVA, the sordid tale of a bored housewife who gets swept up in the sexual revolution, a highly stylized film that draws on classic exploitation cinema for its look, characters and story-line. Saturated to the hilt with vibrant color and exquisitely detailed in its depiction of the period and the genre, it follows the adventures of Barbi who, abandoned by her perfect Ken-doll husband, is dragged out on the town and into trouble by her "women's lib"-spouting girlfriend. An innocent in a sea of wolves, Barbi becomes "Viva" and quickly learns a lot more than she ever thought she wanted to know about the wild 1970s - nudists, swingers, hippies, orgies and lesbians - oh, my!

More info and tickets - and check out that trailer!

CineKink kicks off... Tuesday!

Put on your shiny finery and come help us kick off the fifth annual CineKink NYC in proper style!

A pansexual celebration of epic proportions, in addition to music, performances, free cocktails and a kinky fundraising raffle, our opening night gala will feature screenings of these special cinematic wonders:

SCHWARZWALD
A rich, modern tapestry combining elements of Druidic ritual with the passionate, leather-clad goings-on that transpire at NYC's annual Black Party, Schwarzwald follows the travails of the Black Prince as he is pursued through the woods and kidnapped by the nefarious underlings of the conniving Black Queen. Starring Buck Angel, the world famous female-to-male transsexual porn star, along with a cast of literal thousands, this is a sumptuous visual feast. And, featuring a continuous mix of music, truly the movie you can dance to! (Or not - remember, "whatever you're into!")











plus!
TEAM QUEEN
The best of New York burlesque in a gender-bending, fire-breathing, tassel-twirling, post-punk rock 'n roll prom!









and

A DOG'S TALE
Sensuous and layered, a black-and-white reverie on control and submission, longing and desire.









Featured performers for the evening include:

Dizzy Swank - putting the burly in burlesque !!!
JZ Bich – gender queer diva !!!
Ignacio Rivera – artist & activist !!!
Cherry Bomb – the queen of cream !!!
Jessica Delfino - ribald chanteuse !!!


Plus, a special raffle to benefit the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom!

Prizes include:
* An exclusive Schwarzald-edition ticket package to the Black Party!

* Complimentary weekend registration for Dark Odyssey's upcoming WinterFire!


Tuesday, February 26th - 8:00 pm

Location:
Taj, 48 West 21st Street, NYC

Admission:
$20 door/$15 advance; students/seniors $12, advance only.

More info & tickets are here!

The Sissies ride again!

Nearing the end of our count-down of CineKink trailers redux, we'd be most remiss to overlook these petticoated crowd-pleasers!



From CineKink NYC 2006, again our many thanks to on-screen phenoms - Sissy Carol, Sissy Stephanie and Sissy Terri - and to the editorial genius, Steve Ovenden, for bringing our tender creative visions into such vivid existence.

And perhaps at CineKink NYC 2008, a chance to see the Sissies again - but this time as celebrities in our midst?

Happy Valentine's Day, you hora!

As we continue to count down the trailers to CineKink NYC 2008, this entry, You, Hora!, is from "the wedding year" series of 2005. Also referred to by our sometimes better half as "the year you kinda just phoned in the trailers."

Hey, you try to plan a wedding and a film festival to fall within six weeks of each other!

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.

A Valentine's ode... tonight!

Get out of the cold and heat up real quick with our Valentine's ode to the sweet miracles of the orgasm. Then just a brisk skip around the corner for a celebratory cocktail or two!

Tuesday, February 12 - 7 pm



ANNIE SPRINKLE'S AMAZING WORLD OF ORGASM
Annie Sprinkle reflects upon the incredibly diverse aspects of the orgasmic experience and introduces twenty-six "orgasm experts" who have, over the years, taught her some key piece of knowledge about the fascinating topic. (photo credit juliancash.com

Plus the climactic shorts!

COME TOGETHER (OR COME APART)
At long last, attention is paid to the plight of the sextoy-less.

MY PUSSY IS MAGIC
The lovely Jessica Delfino sings it on home!

BLONDE ISLAND: FUNK ME
Dr. Suzy presents an erotic look at the nature of sex and the folly of war, exploding into pop star Orgasmical's performance of "Funk Me."

and

ANNIE'S FAMOUS FIVE-MINUTE ORGASM
This excerpt from the feminist sex film classic, SLUTS AND GODDESSES, documents Annie's experience of a historic and mind-bending orgasm.

Joining us for the screening and a Q&A to follow will be directors Matt Davis and the ever-boisterous Dr. Suzy Block, along with the lovely songstress, Jessica Delfino.

All this, plus an afterparty at China 1!

More info and tickets are here!

Don't we deserve the truth?!?

In honor of Super Duper Tuesday, today's selection from the CineKink trailer archives dates back to those heady, hopeful days of 2004...



Vote early and vote often!

Counting down with the classics

As we count down the days until the premiere of CineKink NYC Trailer 2008, we thought we'd dip into the archives and share a few classics. Starting with the beginning...



Where'd that pudding-wrangler get to?!?

Are you ready?

More info - and much more - coming soon!

Here we are!

As you're hopefully well aware by now, CineKink NYC is getting set for its fifth annual appearance February 26-March 2, 2008, again bringing you a specially-curated program of films and videos that celebrate and explore a wide diversity of sexuality.

While we fine-tune and finesse the last details of the program line-up, to be announced next week, be sure to block out your calendar so you don't miss a single second of the CineKinky wonders!

Tuesday, February 26
8 pm - Kick-Off Gala & Opening Night Screening

2/27 - 7 pm/Screenings @ Anthology
2/28 - 7 pm/Screenings @ Anthology
2/29 - 7 pm/Screenings @ Anthology
3/1 - 1 pm/Screenings @ Anthology
3/2 - 1 pm/Screenings @ Pioneer(!)

Sunday, March 2
7 pm - Awards Celebration
9 pm - AfterGlow


Alright... back at it!

The Cabinet of Maria Beatty

Just a little taste of the delights in store for those of you joining us tonight!

An evening of elegant kink

Join us tomorrow for a New Year's double-header of works from Maria Beatty, each offering up the director's signature "erotic noir" style and depictions of a ride between pain and pleasure at the hands of a beautiful temptress. And then around the corner for a cocktail or two.

The Elegant Spanking







The Seven Deadly Sins








"Beatty makes porno into fetishistic film noir; imagine a kinky Louise Brooks, a sadistic Marlene Dietrich (who's the top?), and some nipple clamps and hot wax, and you're beginning to get the idea."
- Tristan Taormino, The Village Voice

Screening:
Tuesday, January 8 @ 7 pm
Two Boots Pioneer Theater
155 E. Third Street (@ Avenue A), NYC
212.591.0434

Cocktails:
China 1
50 Avenue B (@ 4th Street), NYC

More info and tickets are here!

Come out with The Wet Spots!

Tonight...

Come out with The Wet Spots!!

A fundraiser for CineKink NYC, join us whatever your kink (or not?) and celebrate National Coming Out Day in swank style with our favorite kinky cabaret duo!

Back for another command CineKink performance, the Wet Spots will again be treating us to such melodious musical marvels as "Bi-Curious George," "Piggy Pile" and "Labia Limbo," along with their internet music video smash hit, "Do You Take It?" and some brand-spanking-new material.

All that, plus cocktails, a very sexy raffle - and the pleasure of your company!

For more info, advance tickets and a peek at their music video...

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...

CineKink @ Midnight... tonight!

Back by popular demand after its recent sold-out screening, the Pioneer Theater and CineKink team up to bring you these special midnight encores - Friday and Saturday night - of Pornology New York.

Don't miss out this time!

Submit to CineKink!

CineKink is seeking films and videos, of any length and genre, that explore and celebrate the wide diversity of sexuality. We're looking to blur some boundaries and will be considering offerings drawn from both Hollywood and beyond, explicit or not, with works ranging from documentary to drama, camp comedy to hot porn - and everything in between.

Cutting across orientations, topics covered at CineKink have included — but are by no means limited to — BDSM, leather and fetish, swinging, non-monogamy and polyamory, roleplay and gender bending. Or, frankly, given the current moralistic climate, as long as it involves consenting adults, just about anything celebrating sex as a right of self expression. (Far be it from us to define “kink” — if you think your work might make sense in this context, please send it along!)

Scheduled for its fifth annual appearance February 26-March 2, 2008, the specially-curated CineKink NYC will also feature a short film competition, audience choice awards, presentations, parties and a gala kick-off, with a national screening tour to follow.

Film and video submissions have an early, discounted deadline of October 15, 2007 and a final deadline of November 15, 2007.

For more information and to download an entry form, go here!

Tuesday...

Tuesday, September 11, 2007 - 7 pm

The Pioneer Theater and CineKink team up to present another evening of kinky movies, pizza and beer.



"Born in a Barn is a model documentary on the subject, a respectful study that pays homage to the subculture without sugarcoating or sensationalizing it."
- Gary Morris, Bright Lights Film Journal

"Anyone who harbors a private kink should see this film."
- Abby Ehmann, Eros Zine

BORN IN A BARN
(Audience Choice Award - Best Documentary/CineKink 2004)
An intimate and sometimes humorous look into the extraordinary erotic lives of four seemingly ordinary people. Delving deep into the world of ponyplay, the fast-growing fetish in which enthusiasts roleplay as human ponies and handlers, this documentary explores the complex motives that drive this particular passion and reveals how identity can be found in the pursuit of unconventional desire. (Directed by Elizabeth Elson, 2004, USA, 50 minutes.)

Plays with SHINE: CONFESSIONS OF A RUBBER FETISHIST, a funny, thought-provoking and unapologetic visit with Shine, who goes to work everyday, plays chess, likes to dress in rubber and craves being whipped by his friends. (Directed by Karine Baczynski, 2003, USA, 28 minutes; Best Documentary Short/CineKink 2003.)

Free pizza and beer reception follows for all ticket holders!

More info and tickets!

Pain, passion and the old grey lady.

Catching up with an article by ST VanAirsdale in today's New York Times entitled "Passion for Film Spurs New Festivals, but Grueling Work Keeps Them Going," we find ourselves staring off at the wall and nodding in mute agreement. Running a film festival is haaaard. (Though, we must admit, not nearly as hard as the mind numbingly week-upon-week "temp" data entry gig we once endured.)

An interesting overview of how the festival circuit has come to replace traditional distribution for many independent filmmakers, the article also touches upon the reward that - for us, anyway - helps propel us forward, the pleasure of connecting a work with its perfect audience.

For low-budget filmmakers New York festivals allow them to get their passion projects in front of committed moviegoers, all at an average cost of $40 per submission. Genre directors once banished to larger fests’ midnight-movie ghettos have flourishing outlets like the NYC Horror Film Festival or the sexually themed CineKink. Foreign-language works reach viewers at Polish, Cuban, Korean, Brazilian and other specialized series.

Coming up on our fifth go-round in February - slogging away, working so diligently these many years - we've often claimed that we "eat their mid-night movies for breakfast." It's delightful to have the old grey lady finally take notice.

Get your wonk on!

Tonight's the coming out party for Sex in the Public Square, a new blog/social networking site put together by Elizabeth Wood and Chris Hall.

A little more "about" them:
We believe that sexuality is a fundamental component of human life, and that it cannot be excluded from "polite conversation" without losing an important element of democratic participation. We are working to expand the space available for discussions of all aspects of sexuality, and to build communities where respect and inclusion are the norm. We also believe that talk about sex needn't always be "serious" in order to be "appropriate" and we welcome playful conversations that focus on the fun of sex as well as serious conversations that focus on things like policy, safety, and identity.

Taking place tonight and featuring readings by such perennial favorites as Rachel Kramer Bussel, Lux Nightmare, Audacia Ray - and perhaps even a CineKink morsel or two - more info on the launch is here.

CineKink's Tawdry Summer Tryst !!

It's our anniversary double-header - kinky movies followed by one wild after-party!

CineKink's Tawdry Summer Tryst - Part One!

Kinky movies @ Pioneer Theater
Tuesday, August 14th – 7 pm

Cozy up to a new best friend, sink back into air-conditioned comfort and heat up with CineKink's anniversary revisit to a few of our favorite hook-ups!

Sullivan's Last Call






Untitled First Porno





Haircut





Harigata: The Alien Dildo That Turned Women into Sex-Hungry Lesbos






Hitchcocked





Headshot





A&O Department: Supply Nurse






CineKink's Tawdry Summer Tryst - Part Two!

Kinky party @ China 1
Tuesday, August 14th – 9 pm

This month, in the true spirit of tawdry, we're skipping the free pizza and heading straight for the cocktails. Instead, it's down the block and around the corner to the dark, opulent environs of China 1, where you can cozy up with still more of your new (and/or old) best friends and help celebrate CineKink's anniversary in proper fashion!

First drink is two-for-one for all ticket holders from our 7 pm screening, but don't feel like you have to skip all of the fun, just because you missed out on the movies. Come and join the action anyway!

More info and tickets!

Four nights of great sex?!

If that's the case, looks like we actually have a bit of catching up to do. Somehow in our July torpor we missed the announcement that the documentary series, Indie Sex, began airing this week on IFC.

Fortunately, it's cable, so last night's missed episode will be back around shortly (and again and again). But we'll be watching closely to see if any of the footage the crew shot at last year's CineKink kick-off gala with the fabulous Wet Spots made it past network censors and into the final production.

And, if we're not lying somewhere on the cutting-room floor, would we be more likely considered the "Taboos" type - episode #2, airing tonight! - or a bit more an "Extremes" sort of girl?

Tune in and find out...

Sell-out!

Many thanks to everyone who came out for last night's sold-out screening of Pornology New York at Pioneer Theater - and our sympathies to those who ended up getting shut out in the cold!

Fortunately, Viviane's Sex Carnival was on the scene to snap a few photos. Below, Lenny Waller, former front-man of the infamous Hellfire Club and one of the documentary's key subjects, contemplates a celebratory stogie, while director Michele Capozzi and CineKink's Lisa Vandever are stunned merely to have survived the melee. (Visit Viviane's flickr for the rest of the images.)





It was a thrill to have such an enthusiastic crowd pack the theater for the documentary, a rare glimpse into the city's historic sexual underground. And with talks of another - midnight likely - screening in the works, more will have just that opportunity.

And one last thought for next time - advance online tickets!

Tonight...

CineKink @ Pioneer/Tuesday, July 31st – 7 pm

"Pornology New York reinvents a time when anybody could go to Plato's Retreat, the Hellfire, Mindshaft, The Vault, the Anvil, Le Trapeze and even Show World, to indulge in their dirtiest, wildest fantasies and fetishes."
- Stephanie Sellars, New York Press

More info and tickets are here!

Take me to Monkey Town!

Find us in Williamsburg on Thursday night, as CineKink’s Lisa Vandever joins writer/filmmaker/blogger extraordinaire, Lauren Wissot, in co-curating Kinky Camp, a bit of celluloid debauchery for Monkey Town’s “Midnight Movies” series.

Thursday, July 26th, midnight

Monkey Town
58 N. 3rd Street
(bet. Kent & Wythe)
Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Come out early for a little tapas and DJ set, then stick around for a late night of cinematic perversity. We'll be heating things up with a few of our campiest CineKink favorites. Then Lauren will take over with, well, shhhh.... it's a secret!

In lieu of a trivet...

Happy housewarming to Viviane's Sex Carnival, as they settle in to swanky, new digs at http://www.thesexcarnival.com !

Be sure to adjust your blogroll, then stop in and give them your best...

End July with a bang!

Namely, with a very kinky movie, plus pizza and beer...



CineKink @ Pioneer/Tuesday, July 31st – 7 pm

Audience Choice Award - Best Documentary/CineKink 2005
Pornology New York
Directed by Michele Capozzi, 2005, 85 minutes.
A paean to the New York sexual underground, circa 1970-85, this engrossing documentary brings together four of its most colorful protagonists. Our guide to the action is Michele Capozzi, urban explorer and self-titled pornologist, with an up-close introduction to Neville Chambers, founder of the infamous porn-producing Fuck Factory; Lenny Waller, long-time front-man of the meat-packing district's now-defunct Hellfire Club and renowned pornstar/mistress/shaman, Porsche Lynn - for a look back in time, an assessment of where we are today...and one very wild farewell party.

Free pizza and beer reception follows for all ticket holders!!

"Pornology New York reinvents a time when anybody could go to Plato's Retreat, the Hellfire, Mindshaft, The Vault, the Anvil, Le Trapeze and even Show World, to indulge in their dirtiest, wildest fantasies and fetishes."
- Stephanie Sellars, New York Press

More info and tickets are here!

Call Me Troy

Actually, you can call us just about anything, so long as you pull our hair just the right way while you're doing it. But Call Me Troy is the title of a new documentary from director Scott Bloom, whose Original Pride: The Satyrs Motorcycle Club was the centerpiece of our latest CineKink @ Pioneer screening.

A profile of gay rights activist and founder of Metropolitan Community Churches, Rev. Troy Perry, the work promises to be an important chronicle of the fight for sexual freedom and a moving tribute to a man who proclaimed that sexuality and religion - Christianity, even! - need not be separate.



The teaser trailer for Call Me Troy screened as part of our Pioneer program on Wednesday. Careful viewers will note an appearance by Skip Chasey (aka Master Skip), who was also a key subject in Pup (Best Documentary Short, CineKink 2005).

NYC Leather Pride was here!

And boy, are we beat!

Still trying to sort out the images flashing through our mind, we're glad that Viviane's Sex Carnival braved the heat on Sunday to take in the scenery at Folsom Street East. As it should be, just a CineKinkster shot or two in the midst, but lots of hot, sweaty men ... eating pie?

NYC Leather Pride is here!

We've been resting up for weeks in preparation for this one...

THE 24th ANNUAL LEATHER PRIDE NIGHT
Leather Pride Night, always a colorful coming together of NYC's S/M, leather and fetish communities, will again feature veteran auctioneer, Jo Arnone, presiding over an array of items to include leather and latex fetish clothing, unique toys and equipment, art objects, Broadway theater tickets and ... CineKink festival passes! Making the auction and festivities all the better, this year's beneficiaries are The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, God's Love We Deliver, Ali Forney Center, Leather Archives & Museum and Heritage of Pride. For more info.

FOLSOM STREET EAST XI
Then, don't sleep in too late, as over 10,000 leather men and women take to the streets for Folsom Street East, the largest outdoor festival of its kind on the East Coast. Featuring, once again - CineKink t-shirts! - this humongous S/M-leather-fetish block party takes place Sunday, June 17th from 2-8 pm on West 28th Street (between 10th and 11th). Stop by the CineKink table and say hello! For more info.

LEATHER PARTY CENTRAL
With a range of pre- and apres- celebrations scheduled, there's bound to be a party (or few) just right for you! And these are just the ones we know about...
6/15 - MetroBears @ the DugOut
6/15 - DSF @ Paddles
6/15 - The L.U.R.E. in Exile; 52 Walker Street, (advance tickets at
Purple Passion, 211 W. 20th)
6/16 - TES @ Paddles
6/17 - LSM @ Paddles

CINEKINK @ PIONEER: CELEBRATING LEATHER PRIDE
Wednesday, June 20th/7 pm

The Pioneer Theater and CineKink team up to present another evening of kinky movies, pizza and beer. This month, we celebrate Leather Pride with a program that includes:

Original Pride: The Satyrs Motorcycle Club
(Directed by Scott Bloom, 2005, USA, 56 minutes)
One of the first gay men's social organizations ever, The Satyrs Motorcycle Club was formed in 1954 and lives on as a vital group of Harley-riding, bearded and leather-clad men-loving men. This documentary is a journey back to that illustrious start, and then a trip of the present-day, a visit with the group at their annual outing in a remote Northern California location. Plays with the short, PISSIES NOT SISSIES, a first-hand account of the jovial goings-on in the men's room at a renowned international leather contest. (Charles Lum, 2005, USA, 14 minutes)

A beer and pizza reception follows the screening for all ticket holders.

More info and tickets!

Save the Dates - CineKink NYC!!

Alright, you can stop holding your breath now, your anxious anticipation is over. We're delighted to announce that our anchor event, CineKink NYC, will be moving out of the glutted fall cultural season and leaping into February - yep, it's a leap year - in our fifth annual(ish) appearance.

Get ready to jump along with us, February 26 - March 2, 2008, when we present a specially-curated program of films and videos that celebrate and explore a wide diversity of sexuality. In addition to screenings, plans also include a short film competition, awards, panels, parties and a gala kick-off fundraiser.

CineKink is currently inviting sponsors to come on board for the festival and a call for entries will go out shortly. If you're not receiving our regular updates, be sure to sign up here to get all the latest information.

Meanwhile, mark your calendars... February 26-March 2, 2008 !!!

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?

Would you like some pizza, little girl?

Many thanks to everyone who braved the wind chill and came out for our premiere screening party at Pioneer Theater. Hot kink and hot pizza!

We were graced with the presence of a sissy gone merely semi-wild, Sissy Stephanie, which may be her weekday mode. And friends old and new packing the house.




Since it was soooo very cold, we spent extra time in the lobby, waiting for folks to arrive.

We miss all the cool parties

Well, not all of them. Last night's CineKink shindig at the Pioneer was a fabulous time, even if we didn't have any naked people. That we know of, anyway. And it's not like we never have naked people at our parties, but...anyway, Saturday night was the big release party for CineKink alum Audacia Ray's brand new porn opus, The Bi Apple. A party that apparently featured many naked people.



For Audacia, who produced and moderated the panel, The State of Smut: NYC for last fall's CineKink NYC, the new project represents her move from in front of the camera to producing and directing. As chronicled in her blog, Waxing Vixen, that move included many of the perils and tribulations one might encounter making independent movies of the non-explicit kind - excepting, of course, for all of those naked people. From a recently posted Q&A with her production manager:

This being a much smaller set, I didn’t really have the luxury of sitting around and doing any one thing for any length of time. I had all the bookkeeping responsibilities of a production manager, but when I wasn’t up to my elbows in receipts and model waivers, I was helping the PAs schlep cases of bottled water or holding the ladder for the set designer or setting up the lighting and backdrop for the photographer or installing an air conditioner or ordering lunch or, after several hours of frenetic activity, finding the coolest room in that sauna of a set that I possibly could and sitting with most of the crew in utter silence for an hour or two so that you could make smu.. er, art in a room down the hall. And occasionally bitching at the director for going overbudget.

It's an interesting, ongoing discussion of the process and you'll find many of Audacia's moviemaking experiences of the past year, now moving into the distribution phase, detailed in the blog.

Along, of course, with many pictures of naked people.

Best of CineKink @ Pioneer

Join us for kink, pizza and beer as the Pioneer Theater welcomes us for a special "Tuesdays@7" presentation...

Tuesday, March 6th - 7 pm

Two Boots Pioneer Theater
155 E. Third Street (@ Avenue A), NYC

"The Best of CineKink"
A special screening of hot shorts deemed the very best of CineKink. The jury-selected awards were determined during the latest run of CineKink NYC, which took place October 17-22, 2006. Program includes:

A beer and pizza reception follows the screening for all ticket holders.

More info and tickets are here!

Alumni News: Candida Royalle

Just out from director Candida Royalle is Under the Covers, following a plucky, young journalist as she investigates the sex industry and - wouldn't you know it! - gets more than she bargained for. (Or "more than for which she bargained," more likely? A mere mention of journalism and we start getting all grammatical.)



Reknowned as a pioneer in producing erotica intended primarily for women and couples, Candida was last seen around CineKink as part of "The State of Smut: NYC" panel, educating up-and-comers on the sexiest bits of any indie filmmaking scene ... finance and distribution.

As for other CineKink alumni gracing the hot new project, the trailer features a glimpse of our perennial favorite, actress Sativa Verte (Alice in Footland, CineKink '04, Audience Choice Award/Honorable Mention).

And a cameo appearance by director Michele Capozzi (Pornology New York, CineKink '05, Audience Choice Award/Best Documentary), himself putting in an unusually soleful performance.

Fox Before The Code

No, not that Fox, silly! While we were off gallavanting in Vegas with the International Film Festival Summit, we somehow lost sight of the fact that Fox Before The Code, a wonderful, three-week series of films from the era right before the infamous Hayes Production Code went into effect, was simultaneously unspooling at NYC's Film Forum.

In a lengthy discussion on The Reeler, the theatre's director of reperatory programming, Bruce Goldstein, notes how the package of films came together and puts them into their larger historical context. “When I first saw a pre-Code film, I was just stunned," Goldstein said. "I never believed that films could be that racy in 1931.”

But, while we may have missed Call Her Savage - pictured above and apparently containing not only the proffered whip, but a romp with a Great Dane and the silver screen's first bona fide gay bar - there's still time to catch such likely gems as Painted Woman, She Learned About Sailors and 3 On a Honeymoon! The series runs until December 21st.

Investigating "The State of Smut: NYC"

We're losing sleep these days in our breathless anticipation of "The State of Smut: NYC," a special CineKink panel taking place on Saturday, October 21 at 4:30 pm.

No longer the hub of porn production it was in the 1970s, New York City has become a haven for filmmakers who are forging new paths in adult entertainment. A panel of NYC-based directors will discuss what it is like working in this sector of the film business, also considering whether the city itself inspires a unique approach to the subject matter and whether the movies made locally are all that different from those produced in "Porn Valley."

Moderating the panel will be Audacia Ray, an executive editor at $pread magazine and Fleshbot contributor, who recently directed her first adult feature, "The Bi Apple."

Our illustrious panelists include:

Tony Comstock of Comstock Films, specializing in explicit documentaries of real-life lovers (including the recently banned-in-Australia "Damon & Hunter: Doing it Together," which will have its US Premiere later that evening in the CineKink NYC schedule, October 21, 8:30 pm);

Tony Dimarco, art director for Lucas Entertainment, which produces glossy films for the gay adult market, and art director/director of photography of their most recent feature, "La Dolce Vita;"

Joe Gallant of Black Mirror Productions, whose gritty, East Village-based productions are touted as "sleazy NYC sex;" and

Candida Royalle, whose pioneering Femme Productions was founded in 1980 to make erotica intended primarily for women.

Questions from the audience will be encouraged and - need you ask? - film clips will be included!