The 12th-annual HUMP! Festival, created and curated by out advice columnist and activist Dan Savage, is on the road again, coming to Philadelphia May 12-13. Each year the festival presents an evening of homegrown amateur short porn films, which feature a wide range of body sizes, shapes, ages, colors, sexualities, genders, kinks and fetishes.
This year many of the films get a bit political, with several featuring cameos by effigies of Donald Trump and his red Make America Great Again cap.
Two out filmmakers, Ty Wardwell and Ethan Folk, steer away from the political with their contribution, titled “Breakfast in Bed.” But the film is sure to stick out among the pack (for reasons we will not go into in print). But you’ll know what we are talking about if and when you see it.
Wardwell said he has attended the festival a few times in the past but this is the first time he’s submitted a film to it.
“Anything goes, except for kids, poop and animals,” he said about the festival’s content. “So it’s nice to have a place where you can go anywhere and taboos are embraced and encouraged. [Savage] promotes sex positivity and has introduced gay and queer sex to a lot of straight folks. I’ve certainly learned about sexual practices from Dan’s advice column and it’s an opportunity to bring these unfamiliar, experimental or just totally nasty sex practices to a wide audience. It really opens up people’s minds from the turn-on vibe the folks get from these films. Certainly with ‘Breakfast in Bed,’ we encourage people to try this at home.”
Wardwell and Folk tried to find performers for their film but ended up starring in it themselves due to the rather unique nature of the performance.
“My filmmaker and art partner Ethan and I wanted to make something short, fun and memorable,” Wardwell said. “I put a casting call out on Craigslist and I told people there was going to be some ‘butter-play.’ I didn’t get anybody who was super gung-ho about it. After a week, I decided it would be a lot easier to work with Ethan and I as performers because it’s a pretty intimate act that I would be hesitant to coach a stranger through. The thing that we do in the film, we had never tried before.”
Apparently they enjoyed the experience, as they plan to make more films like “Breakfast in Bed.”
“We just relocated our art practice to Berlin where there is a huge audience and community for making queer and experimental porn outside the industry,” Wardwell said. “That’s the direction we’re going to go in film-wise going forward. We’re looking forward to submitting to the festival again.”
The HUMP! Film Fest hits Philadelphia May 12-13 at Fringe Arts Theater, 140 N. Columbus Blvd. For more information, visit www.humpfilmfest.com.