Phil, from across the office. Katie, who lives next door. Michael, your friend. There are people in all our lives we’d love to see on video, naked and acting out their dirty fantasies. And Dan Savage is making it happen.
In 2005, the syndicated columnist and co-creator of the It Gets Better Project challenged his Pacific Northwest readers to “get their hands dirty” creating homemade porn. Seeing friends, colleagues and neighbours in amateur porn really struck a chord with people (the dirty beasts!) and the subsequent sold-out audiences resulted in the creation of the annual Hump! Festival.
With few limits placed on the submissions, the Hump! Festival prides itself on representing a wide range of interests, involving people of various orientations and gender identities. Savage says it’s not just an “amateur porn festival,” but a “celebration of sexual diversity.”
Nearly a decade since its inception, Savage’s annual mélange of smut is about to hit the road as the Hump! Tour. Entrants submit five-minute shorts for a chance to win cash prizes. The inaugural tour, which will soon hit Vancouver and Toronto, comprises 20 of Savage’s favourites from the recent crop of submissions, as well as some audience picks from over the years.
The Hump! Tour provides a rare opportunity for people to broaden their porn horizons. “It’s rare for people to watch porn that takes them outside their comfort zones; it’s rare for people to watch porn that, if they were home alone in front of the computer, they wouldn’t choose to click and watch,” Savage says. “At Hump! straight people watch gay porn, vanilla people watch kinky porn, gay people watch lesbian porn. And people laugh, they gasp, sometimes they cover their eyes. But at the end of every film, people clap and cheer.”
Hump! Tour
In Vancouver: Fri, July 4, 7pm; and Sat, July 5, 6pm, 8pm and 10pm; at Rio Theatre, 1660 E Broadway.
In Toronto: Sat, July 12, 7pm and 9pm, at Bloor Cinema, 506 Bloor St W.
humptour.com
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