Delayed gratification: Sex & SxSWing!

Going from CineKink to SXSW to Dark Odyssey has been a bit of a gauntlet - a gauntlet of pleasure, to be sure, but now that we're at the end of it, our body, sensing a respite, seems to be flirting heavily with what is generally known as the common cold. But, dammit, not before we get out this too-long-delayed SXSW recap, even through a Nyquil haze...

You can take a listen to the podcast here, but our panel, The Porn Police: Know The Rules, went off well and we managed to cram a ridiculous amount of somewhat tedious 2257 detail into our alloted hour. In addition toyours truly, the speakers included Violet Blue, deftly illustrating how the regulations play out in the real world and the problems they present for artists on both sides of the camera, attorney Alan Levy, keeping us on track with which part of the law stipulates what - and what that might actually mean in the day-to-day - and director Joe Swanberg seeming to grow increasingly consternated with the realization of how the rules could well apply to his own, er, body of work. (Lascivious display of nudity, anyone?!)

Bottom line - for all media makers working with depictions of sexual conduct, both actual and simulated (what's that?), it represents another area of calculated risk - one that will warrant further discussion in the months ahead. While the danger is probably slim for most, it's still critical to know the rules rather than blithely plowing ahead and hoping for the best.

And in other sex matters at SXSW:

Violet Blue also tackled and spurred further online discussion of a tricky subject with her lively panel, Sexual Privacy Online.

Cory Silverberg facilitated a discussion on Sexual Ethics, Interactivity and Virtual Worlds

Twanna a. Hines took on Adult Conversations: Sex, Intimacy & Online Relationships.

Elizabeth Wood and Lux Alptraum led the core conversation Pink Ghetto Blasters: Destigmatizing Sex, then Lux gave us a 20x2 rumination on the differences between porn and erotica:



Film offerings we managed to catch included Bi The Way, a look at the sexual inclinations of the so-called "whatever generation," Obscene, a documentary profile of the colorful Grove Press publisher, Barney Rosset, and the superb Sex Positive, exploring the life of activist Richard Berkowitz and his critical role in the now taken-for-granted concept of safe sex.

And, not quite sex, but about as close as you can get armed only with a Handywipe, we enjoyed reprised BBQ revelations at Iron Works and - well worth the trek out to Driftwood - Salt Lick!

Once again, we'd like to thank SXSW for their sex-positive inclusivity - along with Matt Dentler, Hugh Forrest and their respective crews for making it all happen.

They'll know it when they see it

One delayed flight and some much needed sleep later, we're back from our SXSW adventures.

We'll have more to report once we've had a chance to recombobulate, but meantime, many congratulations to our fellow Porn Police panelist, Joe Swanberg, whose Nights and Weekends was picked up for distribution by IFC.



While much of our panel discussion centered around the dry - and vague - legal particulars of what might be deemed lascivious or even explicit, the film is a beautiful example of sexuality utlized in the service of story and artistic expression - and why such arguments are so vital in the first place.

The Porn Police @ SXSW !

As part of SXSW, CineKink’s co-founder and director, Lisa Vandever, will moderate a panel about the various regulations on sexually explicit content and how they may apply to all types of media producers.

THE PORN POLICE: KNOW THE RULES
Saturday, March 8 - 5-6 pm

It may seem like sex is everywhere in film, television and online, but sexual portrayals are surprisingly restricted - and getting more so everyday. Already draconian federal regulations on the depiction of sexually explicit conduct were recently expanded and signed into law by President Bush, and now apply to an even wider class of media makers. Not just pornographers, but anyone creating and working with explicit imagery of even simulated sexual conduct - bloggers, webmasters, narrative filmmakers, documentarians - needs to know the rules and the risks.
This session will touch upon:
* Overview of 18 U.S.C. 2257 & 2257A record-keeping requirements for actual and simulated sexually explicit material
* New wrinkles introduced by online access/distribution of materials
* Resources for additional information and advocacy support

Panelists:
Violet Blue
Tony Comstock
Alan Levy, Esq.
Joe Swanberg

If you're around, come on by!

Pick me, pick me!

It's perhaps not the same level of trepidation that used to descend as the teams were divvied up for sixth-grade slaughter-ball, but we had a wonderful time at SXSW last year and we'd love to ensure our return in 2008. To that end, we've suggested a panel discussion for the festival, inclusion of which will be partially determined by the results of the SXSW Panel Picker, which is live and online now! (Pick me, pick me!)

Inspired by the cheerful oblivion to current and pending restrictions on sexual content demonstrated by most non-porn media makers, we've proposed:

The Porn Police: Know the Rules
Already draconian regulations on depictions of sexually explicit conduct were recently revised and now apply to an even wider class of media makers. Not just pornographers, but anyone creating and working with explicit imagery, bloggers, webmasters, narrative filmmakers, documentarians; need to know the rules and the risks.

Last year we noted SXSW's sex-positive inclusivity and the possibilities for this one again look promising. While you're in the picker giving us your vote, also give a nod to:

Violet Blue -
Sexual Privacy Online

Deb Levine -
Online Sex Advice

Cory Silverberg -
The Future of Sex in Interactive Narrative and When No Means 01001: Sexual Ethics and Interactivity

Elizabeth Wood -
Pink Ghetto Blasters: Destigmatizing Sex via Online Community Building

But don't forget to pick me, pick me!

SxSWing

There's nothing like a 25-hour trip home through frigid conditions to blur recent memories of a week spent knocking about spring-like Texas, especially when those recollections might have already been made hazy by a week of tequila and BBQ.

After a few days of sleep, however, it's all starting to come back to us. We arrived in Austin to learn that our panel, Sex Scenes Stay Hard, was being touted as a "must-do" in the local media. It took us several days to tackle our resultant stage fright, but by the time we finally faced a room packed with attendees eagerly anticipating tidbits of uproariously naughty wisdom, our nerves had been reduced to a minor frog lodged at the back of our throat.

We were definitely comforted that the panel also featured other actual experts on the topic of shooting sex scenes - directors Bryan Poyser, Joe Swanberg and John Cameron Mitchell (who coyly avoided any acknowledgement of completely coopting our intended career trajectory), along with producer Lisa Thrasher of POWER UP. You can see a few video excerpts here, but generally the discussion touched upon the frequent conflict between sex and narrative, the importance of making cast comfortable and ensuring a connection between them, and the hypocrisy of a society that seemingly doesn't question the depiction of violence, no matter how extreme, yet goes into a tizzy fit over the presence of a mere bare breast. As time flew by, the topics of ratings, obscenity laws and 2257 requirements were probably given shorter shrift than they deserve, but we're just happy we somehow managed to work the word "cunninlingus" into the conversation, since now that we know how to pronounce it, we just can't seem to say it often enough.

Other excitements at SXSW included meeting up with several in the flesh representatives from the CineKinkster blogroll. We probably spent more time in Austin with the lovely, cupcake-wielding Rachel Kramer Bussel than we've ever pulled off in NYC, after she appeared on one of the (strangely?) most controversial panels of the interactive conference, Do You Blog on the First Date? We had the pleasure of finally meeting both Violet Blue and Cory Silverberg, who were speaking on Sex and Computational Technology. (Teledildonics? Now there's another great word!) And we encountered the delightful Seska Lee, in town for Pay Up! Should Publishers Choose the Porn Path?, whose Seska 4 Lovers was previously unknown to us, but whom we eventually recognized from an episode of HBO's porn-related something-or-whichever.

And movies? There were marathon days of great screenings, including a few on the CineKink scouting roster: Zoo, a beautifully shot if perhaps overly tasteful retelling of one man's death from having sex with a horse, and Pretty in the Face, a tender narrative about porn, sex toys and opening up to one's own sexuality. But for our money, the kinkiest of them all by far was Helvetica, a documentary look at the twisted world of compulsive typography fetishists.

Many thanks to the ever-gracious Matt Dentler - how does he manage to be in so many places at the same time? - and Jarod Neece for the wonderful time and for SXSW's sex-positive inclusivity. We're already looking forward to coming back again next year. (Please?!?)

Oh, yes, so very hard!

We're counting the days until our return to the Lonestar State and our eagerly-anticipated - by us, anyway - participation in the SXSW film festival panel, Sex Scenes Stay Hard:

Love scenes might be the toughest thing for a filmmaker, actors and crew to accomplish. Under play it, and the audience does not believe there is connection between the characters. Go too far, and you'll get yourself a NC-17 rating. From behind the camera to between the sheets to behind the scenes, this roundtable will discuss what it takes to get that love connection on film and keep those scenes in the final cut.

At one point in our prior existence as a young, enterprising film development sort, we actually contemplated starting our own company, to be deemed "NC-17 Productions," with the thought of making balls-to-the-wall (so to speak) explicit, albeit narratively sophisicated fare. But then that conniving John Cameron Mitchell stole the idea and totally ran with it. Um, Shortbus ... you might have heard of it? Anyway, we're really not so bitter anymore, all we're suggesting is that the NC-17 rating - or none at all - need not be regarded as the sign of the beast and might actually be embraced as a badge of distinction. (Then again, we did see This Film Is Not Yet Rated - at last year's SXSW actually - and we have to concede that either can be a bit of a distribution, er, hindrance.)

It should be a jolly discussion. Moderating will be Bryan Poyser, who, among other things, directed the CineKinkster fave Dear Pillow. Rounding out the panel will be director Joe Swanberg (Hannah Takes the Stairs, LOL) and POWER UP's Lisa Thrasher (Itty Bitty Titty Committee), along with actor Jay Brannan and director John Cameron Mitchell (yep, him again!) of Shortbus.

We're up on Monday, March 12 @ 3pm. Drop in if you're around!