As we all know, if you want to watch two people, or three people, or eight people fucking on film, there’s no reason to leave your house. Grab a laptop and some headphones, and you can be filling your eyes with all the sex you want in a matter of seconds.
That’s why Dan Savage’s Hump Film Festival, a traveling program of amateur porn, has always confused me. Why would people go to a crowded theater to watch porn? It’s not 1978; I’m not Travis Bickle or Peewee Herman.
The festival, started in 2005 by Savage, the Seattle-based syndicated sex-advice columnist, features 22 dirty short films. Each film is less than five minutes long, and while some feature hardcore sex, others don’t; some are serious, some are funny and some are downright bizarre. The short films also feature adult performers of all ages, races and body types, and explore sex and sexuality in a variety of ways — from the traditional to the absurd, and everything in between.
That’s why people go to this festival. Part of the experience of watching, enjoying and parsing meaning in these films is to do so with a group of people in a theater. It breaks the stigma of sex being something that is seedy or to be embarrassed about, and lets viewers take in fresh perspectives in a shared fashion.
A few films are worthy of special mention. “I’m Not Poly But My Boyfriends Are” is a sensational documentary, and the festival’s best-in-show winner. It examines the sex life of an older woman who knows what she wants and is not afraid to express it with any of her four boyfriends. “Sock Puppet” is presented like a Sesame Street-style musical segment. And “Summer Fuckation” chronicles the travels of a couple of action-sports junkies who go at it everywhere, including on the top of some rocks they have just climbed. But not to worry — everyone was on the belay rope.
