From hard-core to hardly sexual, this amateur porn fest promises to indulge almost any fetish
Story by Ryan Imondi
Photo Illustration by McKenna Johnson
If Dan Savage has any nerves about hosting the sixth annual HUMP! film festival, he doesn’t have to imagine the buzzing, raucous crowd naked. A good portion is about to be on the screen behind him.
And not just naked either. HUMP! showcases amateur pornography.
After five years and a whole of lot breasts, penises, and vaginas, HUMP! stays true to its motto, “the film festival that allows you to be a porn star for a weekend—not for life.” From all around the Northwest, kinksters, exhibitionists, and porn enthusiasts share and embrace a diversity of sexual fetishes—from couch sex to couches having sex—all in the name of good ol’ fashioned fun.
HUMP! 2010 will be screened twice–November 5-6 at On the Boards in Seattle, and November 13-14 at Cinema 21 in Portland.
HUMP! began with a name. The logistics, the venue, and format all came later. In 2005, the staff at The Stranger, an alternative Seattle newspaper, found humor in the idea of organizing an amateur porn fest titled HUMP!
Caroline Dodge, who produces the festival along with sex columnist Dan Savage, realized early on how interesting it is when average people take part in something as outrageous as filming themselves having sex and showing it to an audience full of strangers. “By popular demand, we really try to keep it locally amateur,” Dodge says. “What makes it so unique is that it’s the guy who makes my coffee or the person who sits next to me in math class.”
But the knowledge that the guy behind the Starbucks counter was in a double penetration, cum-shot extravaganza stays between Dodge and the attendees. At the end of every HUMP!, all copies of submissions are returned or destroyed on-stage. Such anonymity is an open invitation for anything and everything—with the exception of poop, animals, and children. People can participate in sexual show-and-tell without the fear of possible repercussions—at least in the form of tangible souvenirs. “It makes everyone feel like they’re seeing something private,” Dodge says.
Perhaps it’s that notion that helps draw people in. Today, mainstream movies are chock-full of nudity and sex scenes. Porn is readily available on the Internet. But just a few decades ago, even the slightest bit of skin was not allowed. The only way you could indulge in such prurient pleasures was to sneak away to a porn theater. By making these films a one time only deal, HUMP! returns that feeling of illicitness to porn.
Private, yes—but not all the footage is candid. In fact, most of the submissions are created by fledgling filmmakers and feature scripted actors. The Stranger even has a HUMP! classified section to help connect local participants with perspective cast and crew. And in the case of the 2009 Best Comedy winner, some of the films weren’t even intended to specifically play at HUMP!
Bridget Irish and “Missus” Sarah Adams volunteer at Capitol Theater in Olympia, Washington. Their body types and personal styles have little in common with the multi-billion dollar pornography industry. But in 2008, the two starred in the humorously awkward five minute short film titled Butthole Lickin’ directed and produced by friend Kanako Wynkoop. Amid a heated oral encounter of the backside, Bridget and Sarah come to the realization that kissing after anal pleasure is an act far more disturbing than the original tongue-to-butt connection.
“It’s funny, because it’s the type of conversation Sarah and I would have if we were dating,” Bridget says laughing. “I just thought of [Butthole Lickin’] as more of an inside look at two people and the issues they run through.” In terms of subject matter, Bridget wasn’t the least bit self-conscious. “I’ve made short films and videos for about twenty years, mostly performance pieces. I use my body as the catalyst or medium for my pieces—usually nude.”
Butthole Lickin’s content represents the rare avenue HUMP! provides. While other film festivals provide platforms for social commentary, political frustration, or human reflection, HUMP! allows filmmakers to touch on the aspects of unfiltered commentary, frustration, and reflection on sex. The humorous, the disgusting, the sexy, and the awkward attributes revolving around the topic are open for documentation.
And while a porno might seem like an odd place to find such artistic expressions, that wasn’t always the case. Early erotic representations often had religious or spiritual meaning. And in the 1970s, porn was on the verge of hitting the mainstream and gaining respect. Films like Deep Throat fused plot and comedy with sex. HUMP!, it seems, is a throwback to the days when more seemed possible with porn.
The annual HUMP! line-up is full of sexual interaction at all levels. Transgender, gay, straight, lesbian, animation, soft-core, and the crowd-pleasing hardcore mixes with horror, comedy, drama, documentation, sci-fi, and romance in an eclectic sexual medley.
Matt Slater, a former Seattle-based comedian who now lives in Chicago, noticed this his first year attending the festival.
“The year that I was in the festival, the film that won was an S&M video with two women. After a round of cunt slaps, the women held each other and cried,” Slater says. “I remember there was a movie that was just pictures of people’s feet while they have sex for like ten minutes.”
Slater’s own video projected a mixture of sex and creativity. Built upon the concept that furniture is constantly abused by human sexual encounters, Slater documented the love-making of two couches.
The festival also inspired the 2009 indie film Humpday. In the film, two male friends come up with the concept of making an artistic rendering of two straight males having gay sex with each other to make a film for HUMP!. The film projects a reality that many real life HUMP! participants experience: the realization of filming yourself having intercourse with another person.
While some films mock the “real” porn industry or attempt to prove a point about the nature of human physical interaction, others exist for the sole purpose of inducing a laugh. Regardless of why participants of HUMP! choose to enter the contest, one thing is for sure: The festival provides a unique outlet for the public to embrace the freedom of  sexual expression.­­

Gallery • 5 Photos

unknown

Ready, Set, HUMP!