Audience award-winner ‘S&M Judge’ to open CineKink: Chicago

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Nov 162010
 

Winner of the Audience Choice Award for Best Narrative Feature at CineKink NYC/2010, S&M Judge will be the centerpiece for the opening night of CineKink: Chicago, running November 19-20 at the Leather Archives and Museum.

Directed by Flemish filmmaker Erik Lamens and based on a celebrated Belgian incident, the film tells of a respected judge who, desperate to save his marriage, reluctantly gives in to fulfilling the masochistic desires his wife has been hiding from him for decades. Initially shocked at her revelation, his love helps him overcome his inhibitions, and they begin to enjoy a secret life in the city’s underground S/M scene. But when the two are caught up in a police sting, his arrest and trial cause a national scandal. While their activities have been purely consensual, the court views his participation as criminal, putting his job, reputation and family life in jeopardy.

S&M Judge will screen on Friday, November 19th, 8:00 pm, and will be followed by an opening reception made possible by the support of Shibaricon.

CineKink: Chicago will continue the next day, with matinee screenings beginning at 2 pm, and will conclude with ‘The Best of CineKink/2010,’ a program of the year’s award-winning shorts, scheduled for 8:30 pm on Saturday.

More info on the Chicago screenings is available here – or you can purchase advance tickets directly via EventBrite.

’S&M Judge’ to open CineKink NYC

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Jan 272010
 

>The CineKink “Season Opener” selection for our seventh annual film festival, CineKink NYC, running February 16-21, 2010, will be the US premiere of the award-winning drama, S&M Judge.

Directed by Flemish filmmaker Erik Lamens and based on a celebrated Belgian incident, the film tells of a respected judge who, desperate to save his marriage, reluctantly gives in to fulfilling the masochistic desires his wife has been hiding from him for decades. Initially shocked at her revelation, his love helps him overcome his inhibitions, and they begin to enjoy a secret life in the city’s underground S/M scene.
But when the two are caught up in a police sting, his arrest and trial cause a national scandal. While their activities have been purely consensual, the court views his participation as criminal, putting his job, reputation and family life in jeopardy.

“S&M Judge is a beautiful and moving account of the conflict many face in balancing their sexual desires with societal views of what is ‘normal’—and with outmoded legal restrictions that are still on the books in many communities,” said Lisa Vandever, co-founder and director of CineKink. “We’re very proud to give the film its US premiere and present it to our audiences.”

S&M Judge will screen on Wednesday, February 17, 6:45 pm at Anthology Film Archives, where the majority of the festival screenings are also unfolding.
CineKink NYC kicks off the previous evening, Tuesday, February 16, with a gala fundraising party, and runs through Sunday, February 21, concluding with an awards ceremony and an AfterGlow closing party.
More info on all that–and advance tickets–coming soon!
Update: Tickets are available here! A donation of 25% from all advance ticket sales will go to support NCSF.

>Hey…you got socially redeeming importance in my prurient interest!

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Jul 212009
 

>Photobucket
(image via SIU School of Law)

Given the promises made within the bold red circle on the cover, you can imagine our delight when we stumbled upon our parents’ copy of the unexpurgated edition of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, tucked way, way up high on the top shelf of their bookcase. And, if you happened to read the same tome as an eager youth, you can also appreciate our growing disappointment as we realized the book was a bit more, well, literary than some other titles found in their 1970s-era library.

All of that was possible thanks to a court decision made 50 years ago today–resulting from the efforts of Grove Press publisher Barney Rosset, who sued the US Postal Service for confiscating copies of the uncensored version of the novel, which had long been banned for its explicit descriptions of sex and liberal use of the f-word. As recounted in the New York Times, an attorney hired by Rosset, Charles Rembar, spotted a loophole in an earlier Supreme Court ruling and argued that while a work might be found obscene, it could at the same time present ideas of “redeeming social importance” – and qualify for First Amendment protections afterall.

Though obscenity battles continue on today, a ruling on July 21, 1959 in favor of Grove Press took away the Post Office’s absolute authority to impound and restrict such works. And paved the way for Lady Chatterley’s Lover to find its way to bookshelves throughout America, to be joined later by such subsequent Grove Press gems as the first US edition of The Story of O and “My Secret Life,” the purported erotic memoir of a Victorian gentleman, along with many less prurient offerings over the years.

Barney Rosset’s heroic skirmishes against censorship and the ups and downs of Grove Press are detailed in the recent documentary Obscene:

>More “do me,” less DOMA!

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May 272009
 

>While it’s common belief that each letter received from a constituent represents at least 100 others who held that particular opinion, we’re unsure of the equivalency of a mailed flip flop. What is clear, however, is that in the month ahead, President Obama has the opportunity to stand aside and let a lawsuit against the Defense of Marriage Act move forward unchallenged.

A law the President himself has described as “abhorrent,” DOMA, which prohibits the Federal recognition of same-sex unions, has been taken on in a lawsuit filed by several Massachusetts couples. And the folks at Operation DOMA Flip Flop want to make sure that President Obama stays true to his principles and refuses to defend the unconstitutional statute:

The decision must come down by June 29th, so whether you choose to send a flip flop–or perhaps a respectful-yet-compelling missive neatly written on a sheet of fine stationery–you have only a limited time to weigh in with your opinion.

>So gay!

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May 152008
 

>Or, to be more politic, so same-sex!

We’re slightly chagrined to admit, but our first thought upon learning that the California State Supreme Court had struck down laws limiting same-sex marriage was of the wedding invitations that would soon be winging their way to our mailbox. We do love a good party!

And ever since we endured the sweet tortures of planning our own wedding a few years back, one of our secret indulgences continues to be wedding porn, with a sordid, lingering taste for the occasional Whose Wedding is it Anyway? marathon.

So, while we’re of course enraptured by the right-minded arguments of equality and fairness that surrounds this crucial advance, and there are many videos that might bring us to the edge of sincere choked-upped-ness, given that afterall, this is all really about the basic and simple ability to be publicly and legally joined with the a person you love, we’d also like to say, with this clip from the gay wedding episode of Party, Party – welcome to the freak show!

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