Los Angeles Erotic Film Fest 2007: Wrap It Up

I'll totally admit to being a blog brat when I showed up halfway through the "Classics" panel at the Xfanz Los Angeles Erotic Film Festival this weekend, snuggled up to Eon Mckai and Dana DeArmond, and giggled snarkily at all the cranky "you kids these days and your viagra" complaints. But when I finally stopped ogling Joanna Angel and humping Michelle Aston's leg, it turns out that the two-day event was well worth the trip.

More snarking, links to galleries and other people's media, and more after the jump.

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For two days, the LA Knitting Factory (clearly unaware that inviting porn people into their venerable establishment meant 48 hours of flashbulb-popping, boob-baring antics) turned three rooms into film screening areas and panel presentation spaces. All levels of mainstream — and a heavy handful of indy — porn peeps invaded to talk about themselves, which, of course, no one can get enough of.

The film fest portion ran the gamut from Porn Valley panelists to independent erotic filmmakers and artists giving a taste of the wider range of international, experimental and truly transgressive films and animation. Few outside the Valley were in effect; much of the fest showcased what I already knew about. But instead of the the mind-numbing fan fest of the AVN Expo, LAEFF '07 focused more on the porn (and its making) than the stars themselves (though the usual signings and industry trailers were fully represented, yo).

Films shown were in a range of actually exciting categories. "Artrotica" included new work by Martha Colburn, R. Kern, Bruce LaBruce, Eon McKai and Nick Zedd. The Best of CineKink NYC was a delightful collection of seven excellent shorts, including the yummy Honey and Bunny; I loved their inclusion of the biting but hilarious mockumentary "Dick Ho: Asian Male Porn Star". There were erotic comedy film shorts; an "Eroticore" clip collection with a 20-minute "Not Another Porn Movie" entry by Joanna Angel; a teensy bit of retro clips and more. We were especially excited to see San Francisco's Other Cinema represented in "Xperimental Eros", a collection of experimental shorts curated by Noel Lawrence featuring works by Craig Baldwin, Mike Kuchar, Sam Green and Bill Morrison.

Like any tech conference that features panels of old media makers and mini-celebs alongside the new media mavericks — and a smattering of artists and writers throughout — some of the panels excited and inspired, while others fell flat into porn's recurrent Navel Gazing Syndrome. Ron Jeremy made an early exit for another engagement, noted by another tattooed blogger through an unmuffled yawn; a panel of MSM porn performers were quoted for memorable quips such as "I just can't get enough of my job!" and "I don't have a thought," and confusingly, the panel actually stopped to point out a porn performer walking through the room to cue audience applause (applauding Joanna Angel, which we usually do with one hand, thank you very much).

That "Classics" panel was deliciously bitter by the end of its self-congratulatory session, and based on reports from embedded sources another panel of similar minds had degenerated into discussions of what kind of car they drove. Other panels showed filmmakers and artists hungry to reach new audiences with thought-provoking images, and — yes — even hot erotica. Old punks brought new values, and new online pornstars and rulers of MySpace like Dana DeArmond shaped longstanding discussions about who really looks at all this smut, anyway.

In all, the panels gave a nice snapshot of the state of SoCal tinged porn when it's rubbed up against the rest of the world's smut; the internal struggle the Old Guard is having when the internets are breaking down the walls between porn and its consumers; and what's happening when old-style porn distribution channels are becoming less and less the arbiters of content. Plus, seeing all that art porn, new features from indy artists and even the scary premiere of "Llik Your Idols" made us all quivery about porn, all over again. For a minute, anyway.

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Video:
· los angeles erotic film fest 2007: altporn panel intro (blip.tv)

LAEFF 07 in pictures:
· Erotica LA Film Fest 07 (eroticafilmfest.com)
· AVN's Erotica Film Fest Gallery (Gia Jordan's photos, avn.com)
· Xfanz Erotica Film Fest Gallery (xfanz.com)
· Erotica Film Festival Photo Essay (laist.com)
· LA Erotica Film Fest 07 on Flickr ("laeroticafilmfest" tagged photos, flickr.com)

LAEFF in text:
· "LAEFF Panel Attempts to Demystify Alt-Porn Before Large Crowd" and "Classics Panel Educates, Entertains" (xfanz.com)
· "Los Angeles Erotica Fest Enjoys Eventful First Run" (avn.com)

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