Inclusivity, asexuality, and safer sex.

Toronto Queer Film Festival’s curated adult-themed program “Porn is So Boring” returns for another year with five short films that explore new approaches to the erotic and create inclusive environments for people not typically represented in the porn industry.

Featuring themes such as body inclusivity, asexuality, and safer sex practices, these films bring us into a world of intimacy through passion, slow sensual pacing, exploration, and beautiful bodies coming together. ⁠

Filmmakers span Canada, USA, Spain, Germany, and Argentina.
Here’s a teaser of selected films:

Selected Films

IS THIS LIBERATION?
M.O. Guzman, 2020, 7 min, USA

A conversation about lusting after Jesus. A desperate cry to the Holy Mother. A movie marathon of overtly sexual films. Songs about God and destroying the world. Drug induced erotic fantasies of Mothman. In Is This Liberation, sex, trauma, monster erotica, religion, movies, pain, and punk rock collide enroute to sexual liberation.

M.O. Guzman is a Milwaukee based artist of many names and mediums including film, video, 35mm photography, collage, performance, and music. Coming into art through the Punk scene, their work explores in-between and fringe identity, subcultures, movement, trauma, and experiences within and outside of A Body. Their video work often comes from the personal: mixing diary and essay forms with cultural references, appropriated media, and other borrowed bites of information. @skingrave_dream⁠

GIRL GANG
Charlie Benedetti, 2021 21 min, SPAIN

Girl Gang is a rock band, hungry to play on the biggest stages and inspire other women to reclaim their own pleasure, desires, and freedom. Lead singer Bunnie, guitar player Catalina, bass player Maria, and drummer Charlie are rehearsing in their garage the final version of their debut single. A great sexual energy is always released when they are playing together, and the Gang’s song is so exciting that they end up having sex right after. When asked to join, Charlie declines the invite and comes out as asexual. Charlie prefers to enjoy that sexual energy by watching instead, taping their gang mates with the VHS camcorder they usually use to record behind the scenes footage of their performances.

Charlie Benedetti (they/them) is part of the XConfessions’ growing community of adult directors who joined Erika Lust from all over the world in creating groundbreaking sex-positive adult cinema. All together, they represent relatable characters and realistic sex, they celebrate diversity, and offer a more cinematic alternative to mass produced mainstream pornography.

LESS LETHAL FETISHES
Thirza Cuthand, 2020, 9 min, CANADA

Cuthand uses a latent gas mask fetish as a starting point for looking at her role as a participant in the Whitney Biennial during a contentious year for the museum which had a war profiteer on the board. Cuthand talks about the considerations she had for trying to come up with a way to protest while also being implicated in the Whitney’s artwashing. Using the gas mask as a potential protest image, she also discusses visiting Chemical Valley, a site in southern Ontario where 40% of Canada’s petrochemical industry lies, and how her visit also left her implicated in artwashing petrochemical money.

Thirza Jean Cuthand (b. 1978 Regina SK) makes short experimental videos and films about sexuality, madness, Queer identity, love, and Indigeneity, which have screened in festivals and galleries internationally. She completed her BFA majoring in Film/Video at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in 2005, and her MA in Media Production at X University in 2015. She has performed at Live At The End Of The Century in Vancouver, Performatorium in Regina, and 7a*11d in Toronto. She is a Whitney Biennial 2019 artist. She is Plains Cree/Scots, a member of Little Pine First Nation, and resides in Toronto, Canada. @cabbagetownstomper⁠

FISHERMAN
Nicky Miller, 2021, 10 min, GERMANY

A fisherman is at the lake when a beautiful young man gets into the water. Fascinated by him, the fisherman begins an idyllic sexual trip into nature. His slow, sensual journey of exploration through touch and play grows into passion.

Nicky Miller is a Berlin based genderqueer interdisciplinary artist, Born in Paris, and of Vietnamese origins, Nicky has also lived and worked extensively in New York City and Brussels. LGTBQ+ sexualities and identities are at the core of Nicky’s work. Never afraid of tacking politically sensitive topics or hard issues such as sex-work, fetishism, non conventional sex practices. Award wining and screened at international Queer film festivals Nicky’s short-films includes: Fisherman, Lemon Taste, Porn Warriors, Happy Valentine Day!, and Oh!Socks!. @nickymiller0⁠

BURN
Maitén Del Valle, 2021, 15 min, ARGENTINA

On a summer night, Niki and Maco get together for dinner. Between the wine, food, and films, the sexual tension, intimacy, and the slow burn of connection grows until the two immerse themselves in bodily pleasure.

Maitén Del Valle has a degree in Audiovisual Arts with a specialization in Scriptwriting. She was born in Neuquén city and moved to La Plata to study at the Arts School. She was part of the creation of a film series with a gender perspective called M: Cine por nosotras. She began her career as Assistant Director in the short film Cuando dejé de contar los días (2016). She was scriptwriter and camerawoman for Previa (2019), a queer-themed short film winner of LaBAF Film at the Rec Festival. Arder is her first work as a director. @mmaiten⁠