NEW YORK CITY—Advice columnist/podcaster/provocateur Dan Savage's HUMP! Film Festival will be opening at the Village Cinema, 22 E. 12th St., in the Big Apple tomorrow night, though those hoping to get a peek at the 25 (or so) five-minute-long goodies will have to wait until at least Saturday's 10:30 p.m. show, since all shows before that are sold out. (Not too surprising, since about 29,000 people attended the 2017 version, and Savage expects to add yet another thousand to this year's run.)
This is HUMP!'s 13th year, and by all reports, it's the best show yet, whether one looks at it in terms of sex, humor, diversity of participants, diversity of sexuality—whatever. But Savage is aware that not every entry will appeal to every attendee.
"People are kind of knocked back in their seats a little bit after the first three of four films, because what they’re watching isn’t their thing. All they can see is those differences," Savage told Newsweek's Jessica Lipsky. "About halfway through the festival, everyone is cheering and laughing. There’s this point when the audience sees what’s the same. The vulnerability is the same, the desire is the same, the sense of humor is the same, the passion is the same. I go to the festival every night in Seattle and watch for that moment."
Each year, the festival receives more than 100 submissions, each of which must conform to the festival rules—no longer than five minutes each and preferably shot at 24 frames per second, but they can be "hardcore, softcore, live action, animated, kinky, vanilla, straight, gay, lez, bi, trans, genderqueer—anything goes at HUMP! (Well, almost anything: No poop, no animals, no minors.)"
However, Savage noted, "Films that took themselves incredibly seriously didn’t get as much love from audiences as films that were able to be explicit and sexy and have humor, much like we do in our actual sex lives. Audiences responded to films that were very idiosyncratic, very personal, almost to the point of being bizarre."
For example, the 2018 HUMP! features Is Queefing an Instrument?, described as, "Queefing is the new rap air horn"; Dildrone ("'Cool drone,' said no one ever, until these folks equipped one with a dildo"); Pizza Roles ("Pizza roles are always better than gender roles. In this Meta porn on a porn set, there’s no telling what stereotypes will be shattered next!"); The Code, which took home the second place "trophy" for Best Sex, and is described as, "If you haven’t already been detoured by their garbage business practices, this film will convince you to never take Uber again. Lyft for life. NOTE: PLEASE DO NOT TRY THIS IN YOUR LYFT HOME FROM THE SHOW." There's also Dark Room, apparently one of the submissions from actual adult stars which was the runner-up for Best Kink, and described as, "You might recognize some of the cast of this rough romp. Featuring hot bodies, great sex, and an end you’ll not soon forget." (The full festival list can be found here.)
After NYC, the festival will move on to Cleveland, Madison, DC, Vegas, Providence, Seattle and Philly, followed by several Canadian dates—but those interested can see the full list here. Sadly, its only remaining California stop will be Sacramento on September 15—but whatthehell, there's always next year for Angelenos.
