NYC Porn Film Festival Launching in Bushwick
Simon Leahy, the co-organizer of Bushwick’s annual drag extravaganza Bushwig, put out an open call for submissions to his latest project: The first annual NYC Porn Film Festival. The event, to be held at experimental Bushwick art venue Secret Project Robot, is scheduled for late February. The central concern, Leahy told me, is the state of pronography in the mid 2010s. “It came from a personal question, which was, ‘How does the porn people consume affect there lives?'” Leahy told me. “Not only peoples; sex lives, but their perceptions of gender, sexuality and sex. I think porn is something that we all consume but there is no forum or place in which to have these discussions or in which to share. I want to create a platform for that.”
The NYC Porn Film Festival hopes to be that platform, a DIY festival take on the adult film industry.”I think that over the past years, there is a new direction of thought happening which came from queer activism of the 90s/00s,” Leahy continued. “Heterosexual people are embracing homosexual ideals; it’s becoming more accepting for people to experiment.”
To that end, Leahy is looking for porn-related submissions of all types: Art, lecture, film, sculpture, spoken word, whatever. “First timers, people that create content on Cam4 :), all gender, trans-home-hetro-sex, all body types,” Leahy said. “We want to celebrate and examine all aspects of porn. We are focusing on DIY creators, but I think that the major players in the industry should also be able to take part. Its just as important to me to have that mix.”
The idea is to open up the playful spirit of an event like Bushwig to a larger audience, a way to “erase and play with identities” on a larger scale. Or as Leahy put it. “I think we have a long way to go, but I hope to see a new sexual revolution happen. Its happening now, its just less visible…now is the time to take the shame out of the America values of sex and be liberated from the past.”
For more information or to submit to the festival head over to Leahy’s Facebook page.