HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Dark days are headed for Hollywood as the first annual Los Angeles Fetish Film Festival kicks off April 14-16.
The show’s producers said the event will feature an eclectic selection of fetish films that promises to “eclipse nature’s vivid display with performance art and cinematic competition with a decidedly darker edge.”
Film entries will be showcased “amid delightfully depraved venues” that include live performances, photographic art galleries and "hedonistic pursuits.”
This inaugural competition includes the West Coast premier of director Vivian Darkbloom’s CineKink Award winning feature, “Indietro.”
The event will begin on April 14 with a grand opening party at Club Monte Cristo with food catered by NakedCatering along with performances of fetishism, bondage and suspension by the Sex and Metal troupe and the Nylon Girls, culminating in cash prizes for attendees dressed in their fetish best.
An exclusive private party is also on tap for April 15 gearing up for the film screenings that begin on April 16 at noon.
The final evening will begin with a red carpet arrival to the awards ceremony at Hollywood's Bar Sinister on April 16, honoring the fetish divas, dominants and submissives of the fetish film movement.
A Fetish Fashion Show and performance by Sex and Metal and burlesque diva, Olivia Bellafontaine close the show.
The festival founder, director Michael Simmons said, "This festival is Southern California’s gateway to the new wave of entertainment. The imagery that is defined as ‘fetish’ has become the spice people have yearned for to wake up their jaded cinematic palates. You see it in commercials for the Cosmopolitan hotel in Vegas, it pops up in Conan O’Brien’s monologs, as a recurring theme on CSI, and it is a rising force in all forms of entertainment.”
Simmons added that he plans for the show to grow larger each year “as people embrace this element of their own personalities.”
“I am very grateful to not only the directors and producers of these films and videos, but also to the performers, sponsors and my hardworking crew, who have stepped up to make our debut event everything I imagined it could be,” Simmons said.
Judges for the festival include Simmons, fashion fetish photographer Alejandra Guerrero, publisher Erik von Gutenberg, fetish photographer Eric Kroll, film producer and director, Master Liam, Dr. Susan Block and performer Bellafontaine.
Sponsors for the event include, American Fetish, LA Decadence, Bizzy B and KinkEvents.
Advance tickets are available online through the show's official website.
The producers said a limited amount of tickets will be available at the door for those wishing to attend the awards ceremony.
