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NARR
Ciné for film and Kink for kinky sex... or Cinekink. Maybe it's a match made in heaven… but the festival didn't attract porn enthusiasts. Some people came out of sheer curiosity. Emily Rassmusson from Brooklyn saw an ad on the internet website Metromix and was intrigued.
Rassmusson 01 (6 secs)
Uhh… I'm kinky, (laughs) ya know? Cinekink, it peaked my interest, and when I saw what it was all about, I decided to make a night out of it.
NARR
About thirty people crowded into Anthology Film Archives in the East Village.
SOUND: 70s film music.
They watched films like "Lezsploitation." This compilation of international clips with a 70s twist brings together Euro vampires, Swedish wildcats amd frisky inmates in South American prisons. It's one of 70 films in the festival.
Sound fades under.
Elizabeth Sheehan, a Cinekink volunteer, doesn't call the films pornography. She says pornography is often viewed for arousal purposes only, while Cinekink films are meant to be challenging and provocative.
Sheehan 01 (10 sec.)
In general I fast forward through most porn I just don't care about that. To know that there's this whole genre that has nothing to do with porn that actually can be fun and artistic, and at times… out there.
NARR
Lisa Vandever founded the festival in 2003. She says Cinekink films tell a story, are dramatic and build complex characters. She also wanted to push back against the mainstream media's negative portrayal of sex.
Vandever 01 (11 sec)
You get to explore your sexuality, but you get punished at the end. Or you have a Law and Order, where someone is maybe into kinky sex and SM amd they get killed… so that's often the message you get in the media.
NARR
Over five years, the festival has expanded. It has also held events nationwide, such as in San Francisco and Portland. Filmmaker Steven Speliotis says he is grateful for Cinekink.
Speliotis 01 (TIME: 20 sec.)
The important thing is to find an audience for our art, and Cinekink is providing that. And Lisa has created a place for people throughout the world to be able to work with their sensuality or being able to express their sexuality or kink or something that is inherently important to them.
SOUND: End music. Clapping. Fade under.
Cinekink will end this Sunday with its annual awards ceremony and "afterglow" party.
SOC
This is Euna Lhee, Columbia Radio News.