BERLIN — Organizers of the annual Porn Film Festival Berlin (PFFB) announced today the program for the event's 14th edition, set for October 22-27, where filmmakers, performers and fans will gather for nearly a week of screenings, workshops and related events celebrating the best across queer, alternative erotic cinema.
Festivities will begin on Tuesday, October 22, with screenings of the fest's opening film, "Unravelled Intimacies," by PFFB Filmmaker in Focus, Madison Young, at Berlin's historic Moviemento theatre in Kreuzberg, beginning at 8 p.m. (local time).
Starring Young alongside Dylan Ryan, Tommy Pistol, AnnaBelle Lee, Siouxsie Q, Mona Wales and Michael Vegas, the film was co-produced by Erika Lust and presents an adaptation of Young's memoir, "Daddy," as an "episodic series of sexual self-explorations."
Next, attendees are invited to celebrate the official start of the 2019 PFFB "in the bar and in the darkroom" of Berlin's infamous Ficken 3000 club. Entrance is free and partygoers can expect to be entertained by special guests Hyper Hyper and their helium-infused "participatory" karaoke performance.
Wednesday kicks off with a full slate of events, beginning with the "Fun Porn" short film program, which features 15 films under 15 minutes that encourage the integration of humor into erotica and offer a notably lighthearted take on sex and sexuality.
Short film programs centered on lesbian and gay experiences, experimental and educational content, animation, from the female perspective, BDSM, fetish and around the themes of sex work, group sex and even "Berlin Porn" are scheduled throughout each day of the festival, interspersed amongst screenings, panels, workshops and filmmaker spotlights.
The festival's official in competition selection of short films includes works from international filmmakers on topics ranging from "animalistic escapades in nature and dark rooms" to "psychedelic sex philosophies and meta sci-fi porn."
Workshops are slated to include sessions dealing with negotiations in sex and kink, creating audio porn, a crash course on cinematography for adult films, navigating the healthcare system as a sex worker and a particularly offbeat course presented by Kaligari Cabinet, which will include instructions on how to make a homemade lubricant.
Several panel discussions will also be presented as part of the festival's official program, including Thursday's "Porn Meets Academia" with U.S. performer and filmmaker Jiz Lee and Vice Germany's Madita Oeming, in which the duo will explore the distinct challenges and potential opportunities of bringing porn studies to academia.
Saturday, October 26 heralds the official "Pornfilmfestival Party" at Burg Schnabel nightclub with performances by FRZNTE and Berlin's own "Hula Hoop Drag King," Marilyn Nova White, besides the tunes of the Berlin-based No Shades, a collaboration of female and non-binary electro DJ's.
The PFFB winds down on Sunday with screenings throughout the day, culminating in the closing film presentation of Candy Flip and Theo Meow's "Die traurigen Mädchen aus den Bergen" (The Sad Girls of the Mountains) featuring Candy Flip, Hendrik Adams, Katy Bit, Jenz Mau and Andrea Vupa Vulva. The project marks the duo's feature film debut and was notably "financed by sex work and produced free from any production constraints or excessive expectations," reads the introduction.
An awards ceremony marks the official end of the PFFB, with prizes going to the best short, best feature and best documentary film. Cash prizes of €500 will be presented to winners onstage at Monarch Bar in Kreuzberg, after which attendees are invited to "dance and celebrate like there is no tomorrow," or at least until next year's show.
For more information on the PFFB, including tickets and the full schedule of events, click here and follow them on Twitter.
