LOS ANGELES—As the IMDB.com of the adult entertainment world, the Internet Adult Film Database pays attention to all things related to erotic filmmaking. So this Thursday, when industry stars gather together in Hollywood for the 2012 XRCO Awards, IAFD.com will take note—particularly to the induction of the 2012 class into the XRCO Hall of Fame.
Each year the XRCO selects a handful of performers, directors and industry contributors who have made an indelible impact on the adult film industry. Among this year's honorees are superstar performers Jenna Haze, Jesse Jane and Julia Ann, directors Vince Vouyer and Miles Long, adult film pioneer Rhonda Jo Petty, and sex educator Tristan Taormino.
The other two 2012 inductees into the XRCO Hall of Fame have a long history and special relationship with the internet database, explained IAFD's Jeff Vanzetti.
Director Luc Wylder has been behind the camera for more than 100 movies and has been both an innovator and a tireless voice of advocacy for the adult film industry.
"Luc was one of the first industry people I ever met, back in the mid-'90s at the East Coast Video Show in Atlantic City," Vanzetti recalled. "He has been a big supporter of ours from way back in the RAME days, and we're very excited to see him back in the director's chair, and now in the Hall of Fame. Luc pioneered the pro-am genre with his Dirty Dancers series, did some great MTV Cribs-style work with the Adult Stars at Home series and fun travelogues in the Sex Across America series, and this is to say nothing of his B&D work epitomized by his Master's Choice series. I always worry that Hall of Fame status comes at the end of a career, but I think with his new entries in the Amateur Angels series, he's put those fears to rest. Congrats, sir!"
Also honored with induction into the XRCO Hall of Fame this year is longtime internet adult film critic Den. After producing his own mail-order adult content and fighting a legal battle for free speech rights, Den founded his own site: Cyberspace Adult Video Reviews, or CAVR.com. The author of more than 25,000 adult movie reviews, Den was easily the most prolific writer of online adult film reviews ever. A pioneer whose career spanned more than two decades, Den influenced a generation of reviewers and ushered in the era of independent, online critics. He was a tireless voice for the industry he loved right up until his passing last year.
"Den is now my second friend who has been honored posthumously," Vanzetti added. "And since it is the only way Den would have had it, I would prefer he not be in the Hall of Fame, if it meant he was still with us. It is our great honor to keep his legacy alive. Not only was Den a reviewing machine, but he was a giant fan of the industry, and one of the first independent amateur producers with his company Den Video which got him jail time in the mid-'80s for producing adult movies. We miss his emails and his phone calls and walking around AEE with him. If there ever was a reviewer who deserved to be in the Hall of Fame, it's Den."
