'S&M Judge' to open CineKink NYC

The CineKink “Season Opener” selection for our seventh annual film festival, CineKink NYC, running February 16-21, 2010, will be the US premiere of the award-winning drama, S&M Judge.

Directed by Flemish filmmaker Erik Lamens and based on a celebrated Belgian incident, the film tells of a respected judge who, desperate to save his marriage, reluctantly gives in to fulfilling the masochistic desires his wife has been hiding from him for decades. Initially shocked at her revelation, his love helps him overcome his inhibitions, and they begin to enjoy a secret life in the city's underground S/M scene.

But when the two are caught up in a police sting, his arrest and trial cause a national scandal. While their activities have been purely consensual, the court views his participation as criminal, putting his job, reputation and family life in jeopardy.

“S&M Judge is a beautiful and moving account of the conflict many face in balancing their sexual desires with societal views of what is ‘normal’—and with outmoded legal restrictions that are still on the books in many communities,” said Lisa Vandever, co-founder and director of CineKink. “We’re very proud to give the film its US premiere and present it to our audiences.”

S&M Judge will screen on Wednesday, February 17, 6:45 pm at Anthology Film Archives, where the majority of the festival screenings are also unfolding.

CineKink NYC kicks off the previous evening, Tuesday, February 16, with a gala fundraising party, and runs through Sunday, February 21, concluding with an awards ceremony and an AfterGlow closing party.

More info on all that--and advance tickets--coming soon!

Update: Tickets are available here! A donation of 25% from all advance ticket sales will go to support NCSF.

Lady Heather alert!

Tonight's episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation will reprise one of our favorite prime-time characters, Lady Heather, the mysterious sometimes love interest of the tortured Gil Grishom.

Are they meant to be? You can weigh in on the program's message-board--but first, check out this CBS-compiled retrospective:



Oh, yeah--and tune in tonight. Soon, even! (Though you can probably also find the episode here...)

Filth and wisdom?

Just as with dating, it might be too much to expect both qualities in one package. And the not-so-mixed reviews don't exactly make a compelling argument for a dash to the cineplex. (Though largely affectionate--"I sort of liked it"--critic Andrew O'Hehir's review also includes the observation that it "...seems like a movie Jim Jarmusch might have started in 1991 and then abandoned because it wasn't going anywhere." Yikes! That's the very fear that has kept us unproductively lodged in our creativity burrow all these many decades.)

But Madonna's directorial debut, Filth and Wisdom, would seem to have enough CineKink-relevant themes to warrant at least a quick go-over--and, who knows, quite possibly a Tribute? We're ever-eager to be happily surprised.

Slap on your leathers and come on down!

CineKink @ New York Leather Weekend - TONIGHT!
As part of NYLW, a weekend-long celebration of NYC's almost-back-to-burgeoning leather scene, we're presenting 'Give and Take,' a kinky collection of shorts that probe, prod and play with the dynamics of sexual control and submission. Assume the position!

Date/Time:
Friday, October 10 - 8 pm

Location:
LGBT Community Center
208 W. 13th Street (bet. 7/8th), NYC

More info and full program line-up is here!

Sizzle sells! (Maybe.)

Mazel tov to one of our favorite CineKinksters, Lolita Wolf, for her prize-winning suggestion in Violet Blue's recent competition to determine the best sex-related ad campaign. Lolita's entry, last year's "Dominate Winter" interactive campaign for the Cooper Mini, which featured a cat-suit clad dominatrix encouraging the user to put the car through its paces.



Violet's criteria for the competition were pretty inclusive - by "sex-related I mean just downright sexy and hot, or incredibly clever, controversial, or just plain fun" - and a slew of tasty examples can be found in both the comments to that post and in her follow-up announcing the winners. (Both of which we've bookmarked and will be pillaging far into the future.)

And this week, Violet moves on to the question of whether sex can actually sell a product, bringing in AdRant's Scott Hall to ruminate with her on how much of it's a help and how much of it is just hype and sizzle.

Well, we're not sure how many Aspvik units it helped move. And we're way late for Violet's deadline. But for our money, our all-time favorite sex-related - and sex-positive! - ad continues to be Ikea's Neighbors.



Scratch that. We totally want an Aspvik, now!

Yes, again, please - we will take another!

Even though it was first released in 1997, Preaching to the Perverted was an obvious choice to open the first-ever CineKink NYC back in 2003, where it took home one of our first-ever Audience Choice Awards.

From British director Stuart Urban, the movie follows a fresh-faced infiltrator who is dispatched by moral crusaders in Parliament to gather evidence against fetish clubs in the United Kingdom, where many of the saucier activities are illegal. Thrust into a shiny latex world of clubs and parties, he instead - of course! - becomes infatuated with Tanya Cheex, leader of the fetish scene on both sides of the Atlantic. While he wants her to calm down, become "normal" and avoid going to jail, she wants to pervert him. Who will win? We can only say "hmmm..."

While it's one of the few wholeheartedly S/M-positive films created to date and a favorite recommendation, until now only a trimmed-up R-rated version has been available on DVD in the US.



But brilliant news! Featuring interview extras by film critic Alonso Duralde with the beyond-sexy star of the movie, Guinevere Turner, there's a new version out that is touted as unrated and looks to have a likely-key three minutes returned to its running time.

Starting today, freshly available on DVD... Preaching To The Perverted: Guinevere Turner Signature Edition!

It's 10 pm. Do you know where your children are?

Amazing but true, but give the Midwest Teen Sex Show a few key concepts, some colorful props and several feet of rope and they manage to convey in the space of several minutes what it takes many a fetish-friendly documentarian - self included - a good half hour to express.

Herewith MTSS Episode #18 (Fetishes)



(Though we know they're kidding, our internal safety nazi wishes they'd spent a wee bit of that time literally underscoring the unwisdom of leaving anyone in bondage unattended. Probably the kids just get it?)

Sex on Spout

It's summertime and - much to our delight! - they definitely seem to have sex on the brain over at SPOUTBlog!

Just today, there's a round-up of The 10 Best Masturbation Scenes that will first have you questioning if there's even that many. Then have you rushing to comment on your favorite glaringly obvious omission. (Um, hello. Secretary?!?)

Beyond that, we've been horribly remiss in mentioning the blog's weekly posts by our provocative friend, Lauren Wissot, who began writing regularly for Spout back in June: "We wanted to call her column 'Art Films To Jerk Off To,' but in the end that might be too limiting––after all, who’s to say what qualifies as art?"

Since then, Lauren's missives on the libidinous in indie and mainstream cinema have touched upon such natural candidates as David Lynch, the S/M classic Maitresse and the Five Unsexiest Movies About Sex: The Breillat Awards(!!). And they've incorporated some unlikely subjects as well, from the consideration of Charlie Chaplin as sexy rogue to the BDSM underpinnings of Hitchcock's Marnie:

She was “always pulling her skirt down over her knees as if there were a national treasure,” Marnie’s lecherous employer-turned-victim Mr. Strutt mutters at the beginning of Hitch’s classic, introducing us to Hedren’s character as a trobbing cock-tease – who, of course, needs to be punished like the naughty little girl she really is deep down inside. Enter Connery’s controlling Master Rutland, immaculately dressed in suit and tie (I love a man in a uniform!), a big bad wolf smile on his face as he eavesdrops on Strutt’s report to the police. Is there any doubt that this is the perfect square-jawed, hairy-chest daddy for the B&D job?

We imagine she does - but we can't wait to see if Lauren shares our take on The Sound of Music!

We are on!

We'll check in again with even more detail on this year's wham bam program schedule for Cinekink NYC, but here's an overview to get you salivating:

Tuesday, February 26
8:00 pm - Kick-Off Gala & Opening Night Screening

Wednesday, February 27
7:00 pm - Shortbus Tribute Screening
9:00 pm - New York Stories

Thursday, February 28
7:00 pm - Triple X Selects: The Best of Leszploitation
9:00 pm - Viva

Friday, February 29
7:00 pm - Call Me Troy
9:15 pm - Susan for Now
11:15 pm - Sex Mannequin & Superfreak

Saturday, March 1
1:00 pm - Lust, Animation!
3:00 pm - Chick Flicks
5:00 pm - Women Behind the Lens
7:00 pm - Mix, Match & Mingle
9:00 pm - Give & Take
11:00 pm - The Three Trials

Sunday, March 2
1:00 pm - Annie Sprinkle's Herstory of Porn
3:00 pm - Sunday How-To Sex-O-Rama
5:00 pm - Silken Sleeves

6:30 pm - Awards Celebration
8:30 pm - AfterGlow!

Overwhelmed by indecision in the face of so many kinky cinematic possibilties? Give yourself over to our CineKink NYC All-Access Pass and prepare to submit completely!

An evening of elegant kink

Join us tomorrow for a New Year's double-header of works from Maria Beatty, each offering up the director's signature "erotic noir" style and depictions of a ride between pain and pleasure at the hands of a beautiful temptress. And then around the corner for a cocktail or two.

The Elegant Spanking







The Seven Deadly Sins








"Beatty makes porno into fetishistic film noir; imagine a kinky Louise Brooks, a sadistic Marlene Dietrich (who's the top?), and some nipple clamps and hot wax, and you're beginning to get the idea."
- Tristan Taormino, The Village Voice

Screening:
Tuesday, January 8 @ 7 pm
Two Boots Pioneer Theater
155 E. Third Street (@ Avenue A), NYC
212.591.0434

Cocktails:
China 1
50 Avenue B (@ 4th Street), NYC

More info and tickets are here!

Tonight...

CineKink @ Pioneer/Tuesday, October 9th @ 7 pm

Liberty in Restraint










"A fascinating programme that provides much insight into the nature of BDSM and the communities involved. Its style is frank and revelatory but also refreshingly non-judgemental."
Tony Mitchell - Skin Two #52

More info, tickets and a preview trailer are here!

Now, that's what we call a friend

We're only into day #2 of the New York Leather Weekend + NYC Poly Pride mash-up - with a near week of events to go - and we're starting to get that tickling in the throat kind of thing that typically coincides with a change in the seasons.

Maybe in addition to our customary vitamin C + echinacea preventative mash-up, we'll power up with a bit of this?




(hat-tip Lolita)

Bite the Apple!

As part of New York Leather Weekend, CineKink presents a fundraiser for the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom ....

Friday, October 5th – 9 pm

CineKink, "the really alternative film festival," presents a special screening of film and video shorts from New York directors for a celebration of kinky Gotham. Dark and gritty, sleek and sophisticated, seamy and ... well, come and take a bite for yourself!!

On My Knees
Directed by Kim Wood, 2003, USA, 13 minutes.
Culled from the secret diaries of Hannah Cullwick, a Victorian fetishist and “maid-of-all-work,” a life of unabashed deviance is traced.

DragonLily
Directed by Napoleon Lake, 2005, USA, 21 minutes. On a stroll around Greenwich Village, DragonLily discovers Steven Speliotis' book Asia Bondage and is transported to her own explicit fantasy world of intricate bondage.

The Black Glove
Directed by Maria Beatty, 1996, USA, 30 minutes.The flame of the candle that illuminates and torments, reveals the wondrous form of the willing slave, whose haunting, wide eyes and full, parted lips recall the classic silent screen goddesses.

Meat
Directed by Joe Gallant, 2005, USA, 7 minutes.
A meditation on love in the crosshairs, the post-mod tectonic power-shift so visible in contemporary relationships.

Plus, for the first-time ever altogether!
CineKink Trailer Redux
Directed by Lisa Vandever, 2003-06, USA, 10 minutes.Since its start in 2003, CineKink has featured various NYC scene illuminaries in the trailer that runs before each festival program. With titles including Gay Cowboys Eating Pudding, CineKink Veterans for Truth, You Horah! and Sissies Gone Wild! - who do you know?!?

For more info!

CineKink-at-a-Glance

We've had so much going on in our New York calendar lately, it's been hard for everyone (especially us!) to keep on top of where we are when. And October's looking especially hectic...

Friday, October 5th - 9 pm
CineKink's "Bite the Apple!" @ New York Leather Weekend

Saturday, October 6th - noon
CineKink scopes the scene at NYC's Poly Pride Day Picnic
(and, energy permitting, Poly Pride dance that evening)

Sunday, October 7th - 2 pm
CineKink @ New York Leather Weekend's Street Fair

Tuesday, October 9th - 7 pm
CineKink @ Pioneer - LIBERTY IN RESTRAINT

Thursday, October 11th - 8 pm
NEW! Save the date for a special CineKink appearance by The Wet Spots!
More info coming soon...

"There aren't enough X's in the alphabet..."

In a recent interview with The Reeler, director William Friedkin discusses his back-and-forths with the MPAA to get an R rating for the original release of Cruising in 1980. Sadly, for anyone hoping for a bit more detail on what ended up on the cutting room floor - and what apparently still isn't being put back for the DVD release scheduled next month - Friedkin remains pretty mum:

What didn't make it didn't make it. I'm not about to circumvent the ratings board now and describe all the scenes that aren't in the movie. There's about a half-hour to 40 minutes. But I would have to say is was mostly just more of what was going on in the clubs, and they didn't change or advance the story in any major way.

You know. Just more of what was going on in the clubs. That kinda stuff.

Much less the buzz-kill, this week's episode of ReelerTV contains a clip of the film's memorable hanky scene, along with host S.T. VanAirsdale's revelation of which color he's flagging these days. Who knew?!

Jet Set Sex

Right coast, left coast, we've somewhat lost track in our travels, but we're off to the airport now.

Actually old enough to remember a time when everybody dressed up to fly, now we'll just have to content ourselves with My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult and fantastizing about the flight crew...

Four nights of great sex?!

If that's the case, looks like we actually have a bit of catching up to do. Somehow in our July torpor we missed the announcement that the documentary series, Indie Sex, began airing this week on IFC.

Fortunately, it's cable, so last night's missed episode will be back around shortly (and again and again). But we'll be watching closely to see if any of the footage the crew shot at last year's CineKink kick-off gala with the fabulous Wet Spots made it past network censors and into the final production.

And, if we're not lying somewhere on the cutting-room floor, would we be more likely considered the "Taboos" type - episode #2, airing tonight! - or a bit more an "Extremes" sort of girl?

Tune in and find out...

Sell-out!

Many thanks to everyone who came out for last night's sold-out screening of Pornology New York at Pioneer Theater - and our sympathies to those who ended up getting shut out in the cold!

Fortunately, Viviane's Sex Carnival was on the scene to snap a few photos. Below, Lenny Waller, former front-man of the infamous Hellfire Club and one of the documentary's key subjects, contemplates a celebratory stogie, while director Michele Capozzi and CineKink's Lisa Vandever are stunned merely to have survived the melee. (Visit Viviane's flickr for the rest of the images.)





It was a thrill to have such an enthusiastic crowd pack the theater for the documentary, a rare glimpse into the city's historic sexual underground. And with talks of another - midnight likely - screening in the works, more will have just that opportunity.

And one last thought for next time - advance online tickets!

Tonight...

CineKink @ Pioneer/Tuesday, July 31st – 7 pm

"Pornology New York reinvents a time when anybody could go to Plato's Retreat, the Hellfire, Mindshaft, The Vault, the Anvil, Le Trapeze and even Show World, to indulge in their dirtiest, wildest fantasies and fetishes."
- Stephanie Sellars, New York Press

More info and tickets are here!

End July with a bang!

Namely, with a very kinky movie, plus pizza and beer...



CineKink @ Pioneer/Tuesday, July 31st – 7 pm

Audience Choice Award - Best Documentary/CineKink 2005
Pornology New York
Directed by Michele Capozzi, 2005, 85 minutes.
A paean to the New York sexual underground, circa 1970-85, this engrossing documentary brings together four of its most colorful protagonists. Our guide to the action is Michele Capozzi, urban explorer and self-titled pornologist, with an up-close introduction to Neville Chambers, founder of the infamous porn-producing Fuck Factory; Lenny Waller, long-time front-man of the meat-packing district's now-defunct Hellfire Club and renowned pornstar/mistress/shaman, Porsche Lynn - for a look back in time, an assessment of where we are today...and one very wild farewell party.

Free pizza and beer reception follows for all ticket holders!!

"Pornology New York reinvents a time when anybody could go to Plato's Retreat, the Hellfire, Mindshaft, The Vault, the Anvil, Le Trapeze and even Show World, to indulge in their dirtiest, wildest fantasies and fetishes."
- Stephanie Sellars, New York Press

More info and tickets are here!