Cinekink 2013–A Very Mainstream Look At Indie Sex

By Rob Perez

Celebrating it’s 10^th year in existence, or “A Decade of Decadence,” the Cinekink Film Festival took place in New York City this past month for another weekend of sexually themed films that are not only meant to arouse and titilate, but also to recognize positivity in various depictions of kink in films. Films that wouldn’t normally be given the opportunity to be presented to the masses—for fear that they may be too sexual in nature—are featured that vary in genre, from fetish titles to pyschological heavy character studies, even documentaries that would be too risque to feature at your local movie theater.

"When we set off on our first year of Cinekink, little did we think that one day we’d be celebrating a 'decade of decadence,'" said Lisa Vandever, Cinekink co-founder and director. XCritic was honored to be given access to a weekend’s worth of amazing films, and attend the all day Saturday afternoon lineup that is Pornopalooza, put together by esteem adult director and acclaimed lecturer/sex educator Tristan Taormino. In the first half dubbed The Feminist Porn Show, Tristan showcased films she believed really captured the essence of what is known as Feminist Porn, bringing together clips of filmmakers such as Candida Royalle, Nina Hartley and Courtney Trouble.

The second and most anticipated half of the day was the Feminist Porn Panel in which Tristan was joined by a range of female filmmakers/performers and experts in which they discussed their participation in The Feminist Porn Book: The Politics of Producing Pleasure.  The panel, led by Tristan also included past XCritic interviewees Courtney Trouble and Kelly Shibari among others, shared their thoughts on feminist porn as a movement and how it relates to the overalll adult industry, plus their experiences creating their art.

L to R Nenna Joiner, Mireille Miller-Young, Jiz Lee, Tristan Taormino, Courtney Trouble, and Candida Royalle
Photo courtesy of Stacy Joy/Cinekink

The Feminist Porn Panel
Photo courtesy of Stacy Joy/Cinekink

“I was honored not only to be mentioned in the book, but also to be part of Tristan's Feminist Porn Show, where she featured several video examples of feminist porn, including a scene of mine (Master Cleanse Torment) from my size-positive fetish site, PaddedKINK,” said Kelly about her panel participation. “I am only referenced in The Feminist Porn Book. So to that end, I have not actively contributed to this book except by association

“The cool thing about panel discussions is you can hear individual perspectives on topics,” Kelly continued. “With such amazing personalities such as Sinnamon Love, Candida Royalle, Courtney Trouble and Jiz Lee (as well as myself), the conversation spanned topics such as race, size, gender and history and how it relates to feminism and pornography. These topics are important to the overall discussion of pornography and adult entertainment, as the general socket it views pornography as misogynistic. Showcasing how women can become empowered through strong and sex-positive depictions on camera can be a learning and growing experience for everyone!”

Kelly Shibari
Photo courtesy of Stacy Joy/Cinekink

“My own struggles in the adult industry as a performer inspired Lesbian Curves,” said queer porn filmmaker Courtney Trouble who came back to New York City for the first time in five years to attend the panel. “After ten years of being too big or too little for anybody's ideal porn projects, I just decided to fight back with a perfect film that has fat and curvy performers owning it, rocking it, and fucking like the porn stars they are. We deserve not only a spotlight, but respect. It's more than sex - fat people are consistently degraded, objectified, and abused in all aspects of society. Porn is a fun way to fight back, to bring light into a very dark world of body-shaming and thin privilege.

“Cinekink is an awesome venue to showcase my work.” Lesbian Curves, which was recently awarded an XCritic Pick, had its premiere public screening at Cinekink’s closing party at AfterGlow. “It seems like the audience is already open to the kind of work I make, and I get the chance to show off some of my favorite pieces to an audience that is excited to see it.”

Courtney Trouble
Photo courtesy of Stacy Joy/Cinekink

Another filmmaker who’s work was featured in Cinekink, Julie Simone debuted her well received Deconstructed Beauty which she describes as a woman’s struggle to find her own identity amidst societal ideals of beauty. “This film was in my head for over 10 years. I shot the initial storyboard back in 2001 when I was modeling full time. I was annoyed at constantly being reduced to just a pretty face when I had a brain too. In the photos and later in this film, I do things to destroy my face and its beauty while asking the question (silently) ‘Am I still pretty?’ It's an intense but beautiful depiction of the struggles many women go through.

L to R Julie Simone, Cory Snyder & Bella Vendetta
Photo courtesy of Stacy Joy/Cinekink

Visually captivating with a run time of just under 10 minutes, Deconstructed Beauty is both very powerful but disturbing to watch as we watch Julie go from your typical beauty to “deconstructing” her face in a painful, grotesque manner in order to escape what society perceives as beauty. It still managed to earn an enthusiastic response from the shocked but amazed audience at the Anthology Theater (the host theater for Cinekink). “I was actually surprised Cinekink took this film and not ‘The Art Project’ starring Bella Vendetta, though maybe it was a bit too severe for them. In general it seems they shy away from anything too provocative or edgy and play it safe, perhaps in an attempt to cater to a more mainstream audience that's curious and wants to explore versus the hardcore BDSM crowd.”

Closing out the weekend of events was the Cinekink Choice Awards in a range of categories. Audience Choice Awards were given to Remedy (Cheyenne Picardo) for Best Narrative Feature, with Betty Page Reveals All (Mark Mori) winning for Best Documentary Feature. The CineKink Choice awards were determined by audience ballot just following each eligible film's screening during the festival.

In the shorts competition, juried festival awards went to Pinecone (Michael Markham) for Best Comedy Short; Krutch (Matthew Clark) for Best Dramatic Short; Impact (Mollena Williams) for Best Experimental Short; and to Zucht und Ordnung (Jan Soldat) and Ritual (Jörg Fockele), which tied for Best Documentary Short. Honorable Best Mention awards were presented to 50 Seconds of 50 Shades (Bo Blaze), Amber (Aven Frey, Gala Vanting and Frank Ly) and Rift (Keith Hodder).

For a complete list of winners and for more information, please visit Cinekink and on Twitter @CineKink.

All photos courtesy of Stacy Joy/Cinekink. For more images please visit the Cinekink Flickr page.

Follow me on Twitter @RobGPerez.