>More grist for the mill.

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Nov 212008
 

>With news that Basil Tsiokos, long-time artistic director of NewFest: The New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival, had recently stepped down from his post, we had more of that earth-shifting-beneath-us sense that the film festival world is truly changing.

But even as he underscores the pressing festival financial realities that are only worsening in today’s economic climate, writing in an indieWIRE piece, FIRST PERSON | Basil Tsiokos: The Challenging State of Film Fests Today, he also offers some profound reminders of what draws many of us to this endeavor in the first place:

…the suggestion has grown that LGBT festivals have become increasingly irrelevant, especially in major metropolitan centers with large LGBT communities. What this ignores is that identity based niche fests serve a need beyond simply showcasing what used to be called “positive images.” Certainly, there are more LGBT images readily available in 2008 than there were when NewFest was founded in 1988 – but even then, when audiences were starved for representation, NewFest served another, more critical function: providing a communal public social setting where LGBT individuals could celebrate or debate LGBT films together with other LGBT audience members.

Substitute “kink” or “sex-positive” for LGBT and you not only get to the core of CineKink but, moving beyond mission statements, you land upon the aspect that energizes and inspires us to keep it growing. It’s an amazing thrill to bring CineKink’s films and filmmakers together with our audiences, to feel the buzz of “like-mindedness” as they experience a work together–or to speak with a director right after she’s had her work screened to a crowd that so apparently gets it.

We’ll keep those moments in mind over the next several months of preparing for the next CineKink NYC, most especially while keeping an eye on the budget and taking on the anxious task of drumming up financial wherewithals.

And we’ll wish Basil the very best of luck in his next adventures.

(via Film Festival Secrets)

>No, no, please, oh yes… I mean NO!

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Oct 282008
 

>No on Prop 8, that is! And with just one week left before the votes are tallied, here’s a way to get into the fray while making sure that both activist and libidinous urges are fully sated.

For one day only–Tuesday, October 28–Comstock Films will be passing along all proceeds from the sale of their wonderfully erotic documentaries to benefit the “No on Proposition 8” campaign and support same-sex marriage.

That’s 100 percent of the price of any DVD from their ground-breaking series that profiles the passions of real-life lovers–including past CineKink festival favorite, Damon and Hunter: Doing it Together–donated for every purchase made until midnight on Tuesday.

As they say…buy early and buy often!

>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!