CineKink Gears Up for Eighth Annual Kinky Film Festival, Makes Final Call for Entries

NEW YORK, NY; December 2, 2010 – Scheduled for March 1-6, 2011, the eighth annual CineKink NYC will feature a specially-curated program of films and videos that celebrate and explore a wide diversity of sexuality. In addition to screenings, plans for the festival also include a short film competition, audience choice awards, a special adult entertainment showcase, presentations, parties and a gala kick-off, all to be followed by a national tour.

Billing itself as “the kinky film festival,” the event is presented by CineKink, an organization dedicated to the recognition and encouragement of sex-positive and kink-friendly depictions in film and television. With offerings drawn from both Hollywood and beyond, works presented at CineKink NYC will range from documentary to drama, comedy to experimental, slightly spicy to quite explicit–and everything in between. Directors featured since CineKink’s inception have included both filmmaking up-and-comers and such notorious veterans as Annie Sprinkle, Radley Metzger and John Cameron Mitchell.

“Our call for entries is running strong and we’re already looking forward to an excellent festival ahead,” said Lisa Vandever, Co-Founder and Director of CineKink. “Every year it gets a little harder choosing from the amazing films that come our way, but the chance to share such smart and sexy works with a like-minded audience makes it all worthwhile.”

Last year’s festival saw Audience Choice Award honors given to “S&M Judge” (Erik Lamens) for Best Narrative Feature and to “My Sexuality: A Sensory Experience” (Felicia Giouzelis) for Best Documentary Feature, with an Honorable Mention award going to the documentary “Waxie Moon” (Wes Hurley) and the CineKink Select, a special festival award for creative vision, presented to “Modern Love is Automatic” (Zach Clark).

In the shorts competition, juried festival awards went to “Walking the Dog” (Luigi Campi), “Balloons” (Charles Nuckolls) for Best Documentary Short, “Handcuffs” (Erika Lust) for Best Experimental Short, and to “The Pinky Song” (Rick Ferguson) for Best Music Video. Honorable Best Mention awards were presented to “Coverage” (Jef Taylor), “Hungry for Love” (Ruckus Skye) and “The Sheep and the Ranch Hand” (Loretta Hintz). Special festival awards in the category went to “Anti-Samaritan Hotline” (A. Tad Chamberlain) for Creative Vision, and to “Libidoland” (Julie Keck and Jessica King) for Outstanding Viral Achievement.

The CineKink Tribute, recognizing extraordinary depictions of kink and sex-positivity in mainstream film and television, was presented to “American Swing” (Mathew Kaufman and Jon Hart/Magnolia Pictures, 2009), a documentary about the infamous Plato’s Retreat, for its “humorous yet respectful look back at a particularly free-wheeling time and place in America’s sexual history.” Honorable mentions for the CineKink Tribute went to the television series’ “Dollhouse” (Fox), “Gossip Girl” (CW) and, for the second year running, “How I Met Your Mother” (CBS).

And the first-ever CineKink “Bring It!” award, determined by audience ballot during a presentation of excerpts showcasing current adult cinema, went to “Tristan Taormino’s Rough Sex” (Tristan Taormino).

CineKink recently completed its 2010 national tour in Chicago, concluding a season that also saw the festival visiting Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Portland and Washington, DC.

Primary sponsors for CineKink/2010 included B-Side Entertainment, Make Love Not Porn, National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, Njoy and Soho Journal, along with Scarleteen and Tied-Up Events.

A call for entries to submit works for CineKink/2011 runs until December 10*, 2010, and the festival line-up and schedule for CineKink NYC will be announced at the end of January.

For more information go to http://www.cinekink.com.

* UPDATED: Extended final deadline is December 17.