Albuquerque cyclists might have a little more spring in their step after Self Serve’s third annual Pornotopia, which played at the Guild Cinema over the weekend.
This year’s festival featured films from Bike Porn, a touring show of amateur videos submitted to curator Reverend Phil, who compiles the footage. The film submissions are based on themes such as bike on bike, bike on man/woman, people imitating bikes, and sex on bikes.
Phil said Bike Porn’s appearance at Pornotopia was one of the more rewarding shows on their tour.
“A lot of women came up to me and have been like ‘I’ve had orgasms on my bike,’” Phil said. “And it’s usually when the saddle is really uncomfortable that it happens.”
The Bike Porn presentation gets mixed reactions from audiences, Phil said.
“We get walk outs sometimes, and it’s hard to tell why,” he said. “You can tell how they’re leaving — if their brow is furrowed and they are stiff, you can tell they’re uncomfortable. And then other people who leave are kind of uncomfortably walking with tight steps, and those people are probably just really horny and they just want to get home.”
Phil said the Bike Porn tour has picked up roadies as it travels across the country. One follower is Larsen Farrell of Los Angeles, Calif.
“I was approached by Reverend Phil at a Bike Porn showing and he said, ‘What is stopping you from going on the Bike Porn tour for the next six weeks?’” Farrell said. “And I didn’t have an answer, so here I am on Bike Porn, and I think it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life … and now that I’ve seen it I want to go back to Los Angeles and I want to make some.”
Phil said he is using this tour to help get the word out about Bike Porn’s fourth film endeavor, “Bike Porn 4 Play.” Submissions for the film are due by May 10.
Courtney Rodgers, master of ceremonies for Bike Porn, and said she doesn’t like the way women play a passive role in mainstream porn. She said the tour offers people another genre of porn.
“I feel like Bike Porn seems to be more fun and lighthearted than a lot of porn I’ve seen,” Rodgers said. “It’s not always about seriously getting off. It’s more about having fun on our bikes, or with people that ride bikes, or our bikes are having fun with other bikes. So I think it’s a more positive thing.”
UNM senior Sean Alkire, who works at the UNM Outdoor Bike Shop, attended Pornotopia on Sunday and said the show was a healthy way for the Albuquerque community to explore sex.
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“I thought it was very uplifting, if you know what I mean,” Alkire said. “I honestly didn’t know what to expect either. I didn’t know if we were going to be watching cartoons, bike on bike, I had no idea. Some of the hardcore stuff was a surprise, but a pleasant one.”
Self Serve co-founder Matie Fricker said Pornotopia has been a positive sex event for three years and each year is more successful.
“Pornotopia is a means of getting independent porn out to masses who are in dire need of a reality check about what sex is, Fricker said. “Porn can and has often been incredibly damaging.… It sets people up with the notion that sex should be one way.
We at Self Serve think that that’s missing the mark because you should be as you are. What we’re really excited about is bringing porn that’s different — porn that’s unique and special and that celebrates a genuine human experience.”
The festival shows films about all different types of sex and sexual orientation, and has live drag and burlesque shows. Last year, the Guild Cinema received a letter stating the festival was violating city zoning laws, but Fricker said nothing like that happened this year.
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To submit a film to Bike Porn, e-mail bikesmut@gmail.com for more information
