NEW YORK—The 2022 CineKink film festival drew to a close with a celebration on Sunday, May 8 in which festival award winners were announced.
Festival selections will continue to stream on-demand through Sunday, May 15, via CineKink’s streaming partner PinkLabel.tv.
“After our hiatus, I was pleasantly astounded at the quality of works that came in for this year’s festival,” said Lisa Vandever, CineKink co-founder and director. "It seems that filmmakers really stepped up their game during the pandemic, and it certainly showed in our line-up. Congratulations and thanks are in order, not just to our award-winning filmmakers, but to all of them!"
The festival’s CineKink Artist Spotlight award, designed to recognize outstanding artistry over a body of work, was given to Charles Lum and Todd Verow. Their collaborative projects, including this season’s Death Race, Lum’s video diary recounting the last year of his life, and My Almost First Time, have been featured at CineKink multiple times since the festival’s launch in 2003.
Audience Choice Awards for CineKink 2022 were presented to Raw! Uncut! Video! (directors Ryan White and Alex Clausen) for Best Documentary Feature, with Vivante (director Anoushka) winning for Best Narrative Feature.
The annual CineKink Bring It! award, determined by audience vote during a showcase of current adult cinema, went to Air, directed by Urvashi, a previous four-time winner of the award.
In the shorts competition, juried festival awards went to Blind Spots (Luis Schubert) tied with Sexual Distancing (Dimitris Asproloupus) for Best Dramatic Short, Butch Please (Peter Fitzgerald) tied with Stephen & James: Best Girlfriends for Best Documentary Short, Red (Katia Koziara) for Best Comedy Short, Hold (Marit Östberg) for Best Experimental Short, and The Receiver (Salty Cheri) for Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Short.
Honorable Best Mention awards were presented to Leatherboy (Jack McGreal), Sovereign Sex (Dom Razberry and Daemon Derriere), and Virtual Love (Aria Li).
Determining the shorts awards, CineKink jurors this year included Thor Stockman, creator of The Good, The Bad and The Ridiculous: S/M at the Movies, Viviane Tang, co-founder of The Pleasure Salon, and Bill Woods, a film festival programmer and curator of the New Filmmakers series at Anthology Film Archives.
A CineKink Select Award, determined by the festival director, was presented to the short film Sweat of His Cow (John Wildman and Alan Smithee).
Along with PinkLabel.TV, sponsors and partners of CineKink NYC/2022 included njoy, along with Athena Productions, Film Festival Secrets and Robel Films.
Selections from CineKink 2022 will be featured in a traveling version of the festival, slated to appear in various cities, and virtually, throughout the next year. Dates for the next edition of the festival, CineKink’s 20th anniversary season, have not yet been determined.
An encore pass to take in the remaining week of festival works is available at a discounted rate of $20 via Bold Type Tickets.
All encores will stream on demand at the CineKink portal on PinkLabel.tv
For more information on this year's festival line-up, visit the CineKink website.
