Damon and Hunter: Doing It Together, which was recently banned from an Australian Gay and Lesbian film festival for its XXX content, will receive its U.S. screen premiere on October 21 at the 2006 CineKink Film Festival in New York City.
CineKink is an organization that recognizes and encourages the positive depiction of alternative sexuality in film and television, most visibly through its annual film festival, CineKink NYC.
The film's director, Tony Comstock, will be part of a panel discussion that includes other New York-based erotic filmmakers Candida Royalle, Joanna Angel, Joe Gallant, and Michael Lucas. Moderated by Audacia Ray, the discussion will be held at 4:30 p.m. on the 21st.
Comstock describes his films as exploring "the real and vital role that sexual pleasure plays in human relationships, depicting it graphically, and celebrating its power." In this case, the couple filmed are lovers Damon DeMarco and Hunter James, and the film centers around an explicit portrayal of Damon and Hunter making love.
In July Damon and Hunter was named Best Documentary at the Melbourne
Underground Film Festival in Melbourne, Australia, but was subsequently banned by the Australian government from showing at the 2006 QueerDOC Gay and Lesbian Film Festival held this September in Sydney, Australia.
“I’ve long known that I was charting a course toward making films that would ask provocative questions about the collision of sex and the moving image, and personal freedom and the boundaries of the legitimate role of the State," said Comstock. "But I never expected Damon and Hunter would be the one to bring these issues to the fore. It’s a very tender-hearted film, there’s really nothing 'controversial' about it, save for the fact that we actually see what physical love between two men looks like in intimate detail. I can’t think of a better way to get over the disappointment of not having the film screen in Sydney than by having our hometown premiere at CineKink!”
The 2006 CineKink festival will be held October 17-22 at the Anthology
Film Archive in New York City. Damon and Hunter screens at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 21.
