NEW YORK—CineKink organizers named Charles Lum and Todd Verow as Spotlight Artists for CineKink 2022 at an awards celebration held during a virtual edition of the festival. This is a distinction designed to recognize outstanding artistry over a body of work.
Over the years, the two men, each a prolific artist and activist in his own right, have collaborated on an extensive body of work. The films they created together have played at festivals throughout the world, and have been featured at CineKink multiple times since the organization’s launch in 2003.
On Nov. 30, 2021, one day before World AIDS Day, Lum died from complications of the HIV he’d contracted many years before.
Said CineKink co-founder/director Lisa Vandever, "It’s with great sadness that we realize we’ll never again experience the life-embracing exuberance of Charly bounding up the stairs at the Anthology Film Archives for a screening. And we celebrate that in their works, and in Todd’s continued dedication, his voice and presence will live on in the world."
A CineKink tribute to their longtime friendship and artistic partnership, Spotlight: Charles Lum & Todd Verow, contains two works that were completed by Verow in the months following Lum’s death, along with a compilation of their award-winning short documentary and narrative films about gay sex and cruising.
The showcase includes:
Death Race
On Feb. 17, 2020, Lum woke up seeing double. A week later his doctor called with news that a “mass” in his brain was HIV-related lymphoma. (Directed by Lum and Verow, 2021, USA, 6 minutes.)
My Almost First Time
Based on Lum’s own experience of going to a gay beach as a young man and almost having sex for the first time. (Directed by Verow and Lum, 2022, USA, 4 minutes. Voiceover by James Kleinmann.)
Show Hard
A collection of award-winning short documentary and narrative films about gay sex and cruising, including: Tom’s Gift, Been Too Long at the Fair, Secret Santa Sex Party, Blow Job 2017, Davy & Goliath, I have Mike Pence’s dick in a pickle jar. Want to see it?, and A Night at the Hoist. (Directed by Verow and Lum, USA, compilation running time 69 minutes.)
For more information, visit the CineKink website.
