CineKink Announces Festival Awards, Gives Tribute to “Shortbus”
NEW YORK, NY; March 6, 2008 – Rounding out multiple days of screenings and parties in its fifth annual appearance, CineKink NYC announced the recipients of awards in a range of categories during the film festival’s closing celebrations held on Sunday, March 2, 2008.
Audience Choice Awards were given to “Call Me Troy” (Scott Bloom) for Best Documentary Feature, to “Viva” (Anna Biller) for Best Narrative Feature and to “Silken Sleeves” (Maria Beatty) for Best Experimental Feature. An Honorable Mention also went to the compilation documentary “Triple X Selects: The Best of Lezsploitation” (Michelle Johnson).
In the shorts competition, juried festival awards went to “Who’s the Top?” (Jennie Livingston) for Best Narrative Short, “Coming Out Spanko” (Tanya Bezreh) for Best Documentary Short, “Teat Beat of Sex” (Signe Baumane) for Best Animated Short and, tied for the Best Experimental Short award,”Closer” (Aitor Echeverria) and “Salt” (Campbell Farquhar), with an honorable mention in the category going to “Crossing” (HP Comings). Honorable Best Mention awards went to “Office Mobius” (Seung Hyung Lee/Seungil Hwang), “Something About Nadia” (Erika Lust) and “Wash Me Clean” (Michael Immerman).
“It was a strong year for CineKink – I think it had its best slate of films ever, both in quantity and quality,” said returning festival juror Thor Stockman. “Mere fractions of points separated the winning films from a good number of runners-up.” In addition to Stockman, creator and presenter of the popular film clip program “S/M at the Movies: The Good, The Bad and The Ridiculous,” CineKink jurors included Viviane, ring-leader of the sex blog, “Viviane’s Sex Carnival,” and Bill Woods, a film festival programmer and curator of the New Filmmakers series at Anthology Film Archives.
The CineKink Select, a special award for “artistic innovation,” was presented to “Schwarzwald” (Richard Kimmel), which was the highlight of the event’s kick-off gala at the start of the festival.
And the CineKink Tribute, recognizing extraordinary depiction of kink and sex-positivity in mainstream film and television, was given to the film “Shortbus” (ThinkFilm/John Cameron Mitchell, 2006) for its “frank, funny and human look at the inextricable role sexuality plays in our day-to-day lives and the many flavors it can exhibit.”
Honorable mentions for the CineKink Tribute went to the movie “Lust,Caution” (Focus Features), the documentary release “Zoo” (ThinkFilm) and to the syndicated series, “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” for its episode titled ’237 Reasons to Have Sex.’
Making its fifth annual run February 26-March 2, 2008, CineKink NYC featured a specially selected program of films and videos that celebrate and explore a wide diversity of sexuality. Billing itself as “the really alternative film festival,” the event was 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 ranged from documentary to drama, camp comedy to hot pornography – and everything in between.
Selections from CineKink NYC will be featured in a traveling version of the festival, slated to appear in various cities throughout the coming year.
For more information, visit www.cinekink.com
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INDIVIDUAL AWARDS LISTED
“CineKink Choice” – AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARDS
CineKink Choice awards, which go to feature-length works in competition during the festival, were determined by audience balloting at the close of each eligible work’s screening. The 2008 award winners are:
CineKink Choice Award for Best Documentary Feature:
“Call Me Troy” (Scott Bloom, 2007, USA, 100 minutes.) Profiling the life and times of one of the gay community’s most visible and tenacious advocates for change, Rev. Troy Perry, CALL ME TROY is an inspirational story about an individual whose activism was decades ahead of its time. Perhaps best known as the founder of the Metropolitan Community Church – the first church to recognize the spiritual needs of the gay community – Perry has also been an unwavering proponent for the God-given right to embrace and explore personal sexuality.
CineKink Choice Award for Best Narrative Feature:
“Viva” (Anna Biller, 2006, USA, 120 minutes) The sordid tale of a bored housewife who gets swept up in the sexual revolution, VIVA is a highly stylized film that draws on classic exploitation cinema for its look, characters and story-line. Saturated to the hilt with vibrant color and exquisitely detailed in its depiction of the period and the genre, it follows the adventures of Barbi who, abandoned by her perfect Ken-doll husband, quickly learns a lot more than she ever thought she wanted to know about the wild 1970s.
CineKink Choice Award for Best Experimental Feature:
“Silken Sleeves” (Maria Beatty, 2006, USA, 50 minutes) In a journey through four seasons of domination and submission, Midori, by turns playful and cruel, captures and binds the delicate Mayan, whose struggles avail her nothing in the presence of such rope-wielding expertise.
CineKink Choice Award – Honorable Mention:
“Triple X Selects: The Best of Lezsploitation” (by Michelle Johnson (aka DJ Triple X), 2007, USA, 48 minutes) An international feast of lezsploitation from the 1960s and ’70s in all of its notoriously twisted glory.
“CineKink Best” – JURY AWARD FOR BEST SHORTS
CineKink Best awards, which go to short works in competition during the festival, were determined by jury deliberation and ranking. The 2008 award winners are:
CineKink Best Narrative Short:
“Who’s the Top?” (Jennie Livingston, 2005, USA, 22 minutes)
In this fantastical S/M musical comedy, one writer finds her true self by determining who’s the bottom.
CineKink Best Documentary Short:
“Crossing” (HP Cumings, 2007, USA, 19 minutes)
CineKink Best Animated Short:
“Teat Beat of Sex” (Signe Baumane, 2007, USA, 4 minutes)
Three short lectures on sex given by a knowing woman.
CineKink Best Experimental Short:
“Closer” (Aitor Echeverria, 2007, Spain, 7 minutes)
The most everyday gestures become an extraordinary dance.
-tie-
“Salt” (Campbell Farquhar, 2006, New Zealand, 3 minutes)
Three people share a passion for food – among other things.
Honorable Mention/Best Experimental Short:
“Crossing” (HP Comings, 2007, USA, 19 minutes) A look at crossing between the realms of “normality” and kink, exploring thoughts on negotiation and communication along the way.
CineKink Honorable Best Mentions:
“Office Mobius” (Seung Hyung Lee & Seungil Hwang, 2007, USA, 5 minutes)
Office lust in a round-about kind of way.
“Something About Nadia” (Erika Lust, 2007, Spain, 21 minutes)
Their stories overlapping one into the next, three women narrate the
uncontrollable desire they feel for the mysterious and seductive Nadia.
“Wash Me Clean” (Michael Immerman, 2008, USA, 30 minutes)
Trying to reignite the spark in their relationship by opening it up
sexually, a suburban married couple find themselves moving in dramatically
different directions.
“CineKink Select” – SPECIAL FESTIVAL AWARD FOR ARTISTIC INNOVATION
“Schwarzwald” (Richard Kimmel, 2007, USA, 59 minutes)
A rich, modern tapestry combining elements of Druidic ritual with the
passionate, leather-clad goings-on that transpire at NYC’s annual Black
Party, SCHWARZWALD follows the travails of the Black Prince as he is pursued
through the woods and kidnapped by the nefarious underlings of the conniving
Black Queen.
“CineKink Tribute”
- FESTIVAL AWARD FOR EXTRAORDINARY MAINSTREAM DEPICTION OF KINK &
SEX-POSITIVITY
Recognizing extraordinary depiction of kink and sex in mainstream film and
television, the annual CineKink Tribute was presented to the film
“Shortbus,” for its “frank, funny and human look at the inextricable role
sexuality plays in our day-to-day lives and the many flavors it can
exhibit.”
Released by ThinkFilm in 2006, “Shortbus” was written and directed by John
Cameron Mitchell and stars Sook-Yin Lee, Paul Dawson, Lindsay Beamish, PJ
DeBoy, Raphael Barker, Jay Brannan, Peter Stickles and Justin Bond.
Producers for the film were Howard Gertler, John Cameron Mitchell and Tim
Perell, along with executive producers Wouter Barendrecht and Alexis Fish.
Honorable mentions for the went to the movie “Lust, Caution” (Focus
Features), the documentary “Zoo” (ThinkFilm) and to the syndicated series,
“The Oprah Winfrey Show,” for its episode titled ’237 Reasons to Have Sex.’
Works eligible for consideration this year were those released or aired in
the United States from October 1, 2006 until December 31, 2007.
CINEKINK SPONSORS
Sponsors of CineKink NYC/2008 included Alt.com, Arena Studios, Bondage.com,
Carousel Couples Club, DDevious Delights, HX Magazine, Njoy and Penthouse
Variations, along with B-Side Entertainment, Event Premiere,
FetishMovies.com, National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, Purple Passion and
Redlight TV.
Community sponsors included Cake NYC, DomSubFriends, Gay Male S/M Activists,
Leather Invasion, Lesbian Sex Mafia, New York Boys of Leather, NY Shooters,
Pariah’s MC, Polyamorous NYC and The Eulenspiegel Society.
Directed by Aerlyn Weissman, 2004, Canada, 52 minutes. 
Directed by Jeffrey Lei, 2004, USA, 31 minutes. With Sharon Mitchell, Kay Parker, Annie Sprinkle and Mika Tan.
Gallery Carre
