“La Dolce Vita” screenwriter Tony DiMarco split the Best Direction honors with Lucas.
Held Saturday night at San Francisco’s legendary Castro Theatre, Lucas was accompanied by Vivid contract star Savanna Samson, who won a Best Non-Sex Award for her role in “La Dolce Vita.” Samson tied with Paul Barresi for his role in Falcon Studios’ multinominated “The Velvet Mafia.”
After being asked by Lucas to appear in “La Dolce Vita,” Samson was permitted out of her Vivid contract for the project. Both New Yorkers, Samson met Lucas on the set of photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’ HBO documentary, “Thinking XXX.”
“It’s the most fun I ever had on a set,” Samson said, “and I was a little horny being surrounded by all these gorgeous gay men.”
After the awards ceremony, Lucas posed for photos next to an impressive lineup of trophies.
“I’m just very happy,” he said. “It was really unexpected. I thought that the guys would vote against me because I’m not very much loved in the industry. But apparently they were able to separate my work from my personality.”
The evening’s other big winner was Hot House Entertainment with four awards, including Best Solo Performance for Kent North in “At Your Service,” Best All-Sex Video and Best Leather Video for “Black-n-Blue,” and Ty Hudson and Shane Rollins for Best Oral Scene in “Justice.”
Hot House owner Steven Scarborough sat with an entourage of the studio’s models, walking onstage twice to receive trophies.
Scarborough, an industry veteran and co-founder of Falcon Studios, said after the show, “I’m just thrilled. It’s nice to know that we’re still current and that I can still make movies that are turning people on today after 20 years.”
The awards ceremony, hosted by “My Life on the D-List” comedienne Kathy Griffin.”
Griffin also was presented with an honorary GAYVN Award and an award from gay video-on-demand company NakedSword.com.
Other stand-out wins included the award for Best Newcomer going to Matt Cole, who thanked a list of supporters and said his success was due, in part, to being able to work with “the best this industry has to offer.”
Performer of the Year went to Francois Sagat, who worked for Raging Stallion Studios throughout 2006 and recently signed an exclusive contract with Titan Media.
Channel 1 Releasing took home two awards, Best Bisexual Video for “Bi Back Mountain” and Best Renting Title of 2006 for “Delinquents.” Channel 1 owner Chi Chi La Rue wore a sequined, chocolate brown evening gown and glamorous blonde wig.
Best Solo Video was presented to COLT Studio Group for “MinuteMan 28,” while Brad Patton and Brian Hansen took home the award for Best Sex Scene/Duo in Buckshot Productions’ “Manly Heat: Quenched.” Falcon Studios picked up the Best Group Sex award for an orgy sequence in “Spokes 3.”
Best Foreign Release went to Lucas Kazan’s “School for Lovers,” with performer Jean Franko winning Best Performer in a Foreign Release for his role in the film.
“The Show 1 & 2,” co-produced by Dark Alley Media and Pitbull Productions, won Best Ethnic-themed Video, while Best Ethnic-themed/Latin went to Raging Stallion Studios’ “Manhattan.”
Best Amateur Release was awarded to Dink Flamingo’s “Rear Gunners 2” for Active Duty Productions, and Best Pro-Am went to “Lebanon” for Collin O’Neal Productions.
Jet Set Productions’ “Going Under” won Best Sex Comedy.
BG East Productions’ “X Fight UK XXX” received a trophy for Best Specialty Release. Other specialty winners included Titan Media’s “Folsom Filth” in the Extreme category, Bel Ami’s “Out of Africa” for 18-23 and Pantheon Productions’ “Rough and Ready” in the Bears category.
In the Alternative Release category, “Gay Sex in the ‘70s,” a documentary from Wolfe Production, took away the trophy.
Gorilla Factory Productions won The Best Classic DVD Award for Peter Berlin’s “Nights in Black Leather.”
2007 GAYVN Hall of Fame inductees included legendary director Berlin, a filmmaker since the late ‘60s.
Also honored was industry veteran Kathryn “Mama Porn” Reed, founder of Ebony Studios and partner of the late Alex DeRenzy, who produced many classic straight titles in the ‘70s.
Director and Raging Stallion Studios founder Chris Ward also was on the inductees’ list, alongside performers Chase Hunter and Ray Dragon.
Steve Toushin was also added to the Hall of Fame at Saturday night’s show, making a long, impassioned speech about the history of gay pornography and its significance to gay culture, as well as the importance of defending the rights of free speech and freedom of expression for sexually explicit material.
Toushin, founder of Bijou Distribution, recently published his autobiography, “The Destruction of the Moral Fabric of America.”
Other notable onstage appearances included AVN founder Paul Fishbein and Hustler’s Theresa Flynt.
