Perhaps the most famous traveling, curated film festival of amateur porn, HUMP! returns to San Francisco’s Victoria Theatre with 10 identical screenings, Feb. 10 to 18.
Founded by Dan Savage, the famously blunt and acerbic creator of the long-running Savage Love sex column, HUMP! takes erotica out of the realm of impossibly sculpted bodies and famously terrible acting. Instead, it looks like something real people make for real people.
That’s been the point since the festival’s 2005 debut. For years, Savage and company have made a circuit through 50 cities, with reliable stops in San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. There, in slightly scruffy art houses like the Victoria, they screen low-budget—but frequently high-polish—shorts that celebrate all forms of sexual identity and expression, with all body types.
“We received more submissions than ever this year, which made it extra difficult to choose our 2023 lineup,” Savage said in the festival’s release.
This year’s roster of 22 dirty movies includes a cheeky parody of an oversexed Mr. Potato Head (“It’s Mr. Yamface!”), a black-and-white treatment of the spiritual connections at the heart of BDSM culture (“State of Mind”) and an ode to the venerable tradition of Hot Girl Summer (“Crimson Cruising"). Refreshingly, none of the people depicted is a professional pornographic actor.
Don’t miss "Anathema," which ups the queer sci-fi game with a story about two interstellar voyagers marooned on a planet whose denizens seem hot to trot. HUMP! audiences get to vote in several categories, including Best Kink, Best Humor and Best in Show.
It might sound silly to think there are monocles left to shatter in 2023. In reality, sex panic is gripping the nation, and employees of Facebook parent Meta faced credible accusations that they took bribes to squash rivals of adult-entertainment site OnlyFans.
HUMP! Film Fest
🗓️ Feb. 10-18, screening times vary
📍 Victoria Theatre, 2961 16th St., SF
🎟️ $25
🔗 humpfilmfest.com