Kinky film festival CineKink is returning to bring film lovers everything from documentary to drama, comedy to experimental, mildly spicy to quite explicit material and much more. Below is a guest post from CineKink Co-Founder and Director Lisa Vandever.
After our annual March festival was canceled in 2020, held virtually later that year, we’d really hoped to present CineKink to in-person audiences again this season. However, having to plan these things months in advance, and given the uncertainty of Covid variants, we decided to play it safe for the sake of our audience and our volunteers–and myself, frankly–and keep things online again.
The upside to that, however, is that folks can watch us from most anywhere. So, returning after a year’s hiatus, we’re thrilled to be sticking our toes back out into the festival world –even if still virtually–with a new edition of CineKink–and an impressive array of sexy, thoughtful, colorful works from around the world.
For those not familiar with us, CineKink features a program of films and videos that celebrate and explore a wide diversity of sexuality, with offerings ranging from documentary to drama, comedy to experimental, mildly spicy to quite explicit – and everything in between. And this year is no different!
Wednesday, May 4
CineKink’s festivities begin Wednesday, May 4 with a showcase of recent award-winners, Taste of CineKink, that will stream all day on-demand. And at 8:00 PM EDT, our fundraising celebration, Kinky Kick-Off Bingo, offers up hijinks, sexy prizes, and the chance to (re)connect with the sex-positive community.
Thursday, May 5
First up, on Thursday, May 5 at 7:00 PM EDT, from CineKink alumnus filmmaker Stephanie Sellars, Lust Life Love, set in New York City, is the story of a bisexual, polyamorous sex blogger who falls madly in love with a monogamous, married man. Then, at 10:00 PM EDTT, Raw! Uncut! Video! (from more CineKink alumni, Ryan White and Alex Clausen) chronicles the rise and fall of a homegrown gay porn studio, Palm Drive Video, and explores how a devoted couple helped battle a devastating health crisis by promoting kinky sex.
Friday, May 6
At 7:00 PM EDT, Well Met, is a lusty collection of comings together, including a prolonged pandemic flirtation, a healing touch and a sweaty man with a cow. Then at 10:00 PM EDT, Kindred, a kinky set of shorts, explores some of the common ties that intimately bind “us” and make us feel as one.
Saturday, May 7
Kicking off Saturday, May 7 at 1:00 PM EDT, Zeitgeist Europa, travels to overseas creative hotbeds for a steamy collection of pandemic-inspired sci-fi seductions.
At 4:00 PM EDT, CineKink’s annual adult cinema showcase/showdown, Bring It!, features a dazzling array of talent, each representing a wide range of genres and visual styles, all stepping up with a hot sampling of their recent endeavors, with four-time prior champion, Urvashi, vying to take down her fifth award this year!
At 7:00 PM EDT, as the world starts to emerge from a global pandemic, Submission Possible: San Francisco follows infamous kinkster, Madison Young (and CineKink alumnus), as she reunites with a vibrant chosen family and community of sexual luminaries, artists and activists, including sex-positive icons Annie Sprinkle, Elizabeth Stephens, Midori and Cleo DuBois.
And at 10:00 PM EDT, in the lushly explicit Vivante, from French director Anoushka, a new and passionate relationship is put to the test by a disabling accident, and it falls to one of the women, along with a sexual surrogate, to show her partner that the body can mean more than just pain, but also deliver pleasure.
Sunday, May 8
The final day of scheduled festival events features Spotlight: Charles Lum & Todd Verow, an on-demand showcase of this year’s CineKink Spotlight Artists, as well as the CineKink Awards Celebration, a live presentation of the festival’s annual awards, taking place at 6:00 PM EDT. In addition, a separate, on-demand program, DIY Afterglow, offers up a sultry selection of works to help recreate the shenanigans of the festival’s infamous wrap party safely at home.
Monday, May 9 – Sunday, May 15
During the week following the scheduled CineKink 2022 events, Monday, May 9 through Sunday, May 15, all festival film programs will be available for streaming on an on-demand basis.
We hope that everyone will hook up with us for our virtual festivities this season. And look to the possibility of being in person again, when we celebrate CineKink’s 20th anniversary in 2023!
For more information on the festival line-up, visit the CineKink website at http://www.cinekink.com/programs-and-events/nyc/
For updates on CineKink 2022 in the days ahead follow @CineKink on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, or sign up for the official CineKink Updates
ADMISSION:
Passes for CineKink 2022 may be purchased via BoldType Tickets.
Access to all film programs, during the festival dates, will be via the CineKink streaming portal on PinkLabel.TV https://cinekink.pinklabel.tv