SECS Fest 2024: CAFÉ FLESH
CAFÉ FLESH (New 4K Restoration!)
(Stephen Sayadian, 1982; 76 min., United States)
In the nuclear fallout of World War III, 99% of the surviving population have become “Sex Negatives,” unable to stomach even the fleeting hint of erotic touch. The only outlet for their permanently frustrated “desire in chains” are nightly shows at Café Flesh, a hardcore sexual cabaret where the few remaining “Sex Positives” are forced to perform in grotesquely surreal setpieces for the pathetically leering audience. Combining avant-garde theatrics with hardcore sex, in a sly commentary on the unfulfilled lusts of porn spectators, Café Flesh remains one of the strangest, smartest, most daringly original adult films ever made.
Directed with surrealist flair by Stephen Sayadian (Nightdreams, Dr. Caligari), from a sharply satirical screenplay by Jerry Stahl (Permanent Midnight, Happy Mutant Baby Pills), this post-apocalyptic sci-fi fable was too artsy for the porn crowd and too weird for the mainstream, but became a midnight cult hit in 1982. Also featuring an unforgettable original score by Mitchell Froom, plus performances by future “scream queen” Michelle Bauer, Paul McGibboney, Andy Nichols, Kevin Jay, and Marie Sharp, this gorgeous new 4K restoration is not to be missed!
*No one under 18 admitted.*
SECS FEST is a sex-positive international film festival celebrating the artistry of erotic cinema while inspiring diverse communities to engage in adult conversations about sex.
SECS Fest is powered by Shunpike
About Shunpike
Shunpike is the 501(c)(3) non-profit agency that provides independent arts groups in Washington State with the services, resources, and opportunities they need to forge their own paths to sustainable success.
SECS Fest’s four shorts programs include:
SEX 101 (82 min.) - Sunday, November 10 @ 4:30 pm *Masks are required at this screening.*
This wide-ranging program explores first times, how-tos, and life-long self-discoveries. From awkward young couples to tentative forays into fetishism to later-life explorations of sexual pleasure, these funny, touching, and eye-opening shorts show that it’s never too late to try something new!
DARK FANTASY (101 min.) - Friday, November 8 @ 9 pm
Come...follow us into the darker side of fantasy, kink, and forbidden desire. Featuring provocative explorations of advanced BDSM, occult-flavored sex, and creepy trysts with vampires and clowns, this program finds some of the sexiest scenarios lurking out there in the shadows.
CONTENT WARNING: BDSM, piercing, blood
OLD-SCHOOL/NEW-SCHOOL (81 min.) - Saturday, November 9 @ 3 pm
Old-school erotic themes are refreshed with new-school twists in this irreverent program of parodies, homages, and other genre revisions. From campy sendups to humorously grotesque scenarios to playfully intimate scenes, these films offer new takes on classic tropes, and just might become new classics in their own right!
CONTENT WARNING: forced penetration, rape
POST-PORN (97 min.) - Saturday, November 9 @ 5 pm
Exploring the outer margins of erotic cinema, this program promises films that question the genre’s boundaries and invite us to think deeper about the making of pornography itself. Embark on a lyrical, latex-clad love story, take a look behind the camera, reflect on the future of sex, and get ready to have the organ between your ears aroused as much as the one between your legs.
SECS Fest’s three feature films include:
HIDDEN FLORA - Sunday, November 10 @ 7 pm
Ryan Rox (United States, 2024) – 92 min.
Roxii, a queer/trans hopeless romantic, just wants to be loved and treated the way boys do girls. A string of boys and men inform Roxii’s view of sex and identity in late-aughts Las Cruces, New Mexico, in this autobiographical romantic dramedy.
CAFÉ FLESH (new 4K restoration) Friday, November 8 @ 7 pm
Stephen Sayadian (United States, 1982) – 76 min.
In the nuclear fallout of World War III, 99% of the surviving population have become “Sex Negatives,” unable to stomach even the fleeting hint of erotic touch. Their only outlet are nightly shows at Café Flesh, a hardcore sexual cabaret where the few remaining “Sex Positives” are forced to perform in grotesquely surreal setpieces. Combining avant-garde theatrics with hardcore sex, in a sly commentary on the unfulfilled lusts of porn spectators, Café Flesh remains one of the strangest, smartest, most daringly original adult films ever made.
ROOMMATES (new 2K restoration) Saturday, November 9 @ 7:30 pm
Chuck Vincent (United States, 1982) – 89 min.
New roommates Joan, Sherry, and Billie develop a close bond as they struggle to make it in New York City, learning from their respective successes, failures, traumas, joys, loves, and heartbreaks. Golden Age auteur Chuck Vincent delivers career-best performances from his all-star cast, including Veronica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Samantha Fox, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis, and Jack Wrangler. Astutely scripted by Vincent and Rick Marx, who took inspiration from the real lives of their leading ladies, this thought-provoking and sobering drama ranks as one of the last true hardcore “crossover films.”
CONTENT WARNING: Contains scenes of rape and sexual violence.
DARK FANTASY (105 min.)
Come...follow us into the darker side of fantasy, kink, and forbidden desire. Featuring provocative explorations of advanced BDSM, occult-flavored sex, and creepy trysts with vampires and clowns, this program finds some of the sexiest scenarios lurking out there in the shadows.
FILMS:
- Alchemy of Meat
- Angelo
- Cane
- Circus Birth
- Phytophilia
- Polish Kink
- Silver V
- The Shadows That Inhabit Me
CONTENT WARNING: BDSM, piercing, blood
*No one under 18 admitted.*
SECS Fest is a sex-positive international film festival celebrating the artistry of erotic cinema while inspiring diverse communities to engage in adult conversations about sex.
SECS Fest is powered by Shunpike
About Shunpike
Shunpike is the 501(c)(3) non-profit agency that provides independent arts groups in Washington State with the services, resources, and opportunities they need to forge their own paths to sustainable success.
OLD-SCHOOL/NEW-SCHOOL (81 min.)
Old-school erotic themes are refreshed with new-school twists in this irreverent program of parodies, homages, and other genre revisions. From campy sendups to humorously grotesque scenarios to playfully intimate scenes, these films offer new takes on classic tropes, and just might become new classics in their own right!
FILMS:
- Beat It
- Blue Balls
- Disco Thicc
- Eggs
- The Farmer's Daughter
- A Quick Fix
- Shower Me
- Silly River Pups
- The Wrong AirBnB
CONTENT WARNING: BDSM, forced penetration, rape
*Masks are required at this screening.*
*No one under 18 admitted.*
SECS Fest is a sex-positive international film festival celebrating the artistry of erotic cinema while inspiring diverse communities to engage in adult conversations about sex.
SECS Fest is powered by Shunpike
About Shunpike
Shunpike is the 501(c)(3) non-profit agency that provides independent arts groups in Washington State with the services, resources, and opportunities they need to forge their own paths to sustainable success.
POST-P**N (100 min.)
Exploring the outer margins of erotic cinema, this program promises films that question the genre’s boundaries and invite us to think deeper about the making of pornography itself. Embark on a lyrical, latex-clad love story, take a look behind the camera, reflect on the future of sex, and get ready to have the organ between your ears aroused as much as the one between your legs.
FILMS:
- Focus
- Levidis
- Meet the Camera
- Morillon III
- Musings of a Mechatronic Mistress
- Scars
- Thing
*No one under 18 admitted.*
SECS Fest is a sex-positive international film festival celebrating the artistry of erotic cinema while inspiring diverse communities to engage in adult conversations about sex.
SECS Fest is powered by Shunpike
About Shunpike
Shunpike is the 501(c)(3) non-profit agency that provides independent arts groups in Washington State with the services, resources, and opportunities they need to forge their own paths to sustainable success.
ARCHIVAL PRESENTATION:
ROOMMATES (New 2K restoration!)
(Chuck Vincent, 1982; 89 min., United States)
Joan, Sherry, and Billie couldn’t be more different. Joan (Veronica Hart) is a small-town girl trying to make it as an actress in the big city; Sherry (Kelly Nichols) is a fashion model whose Achilles’ heels are easy men and easier drugs; and Billie (Samantha Fox) is a former high-class escort who’s left that world behind for a career in TV production. Their lives become interwoven when Joan and Sherry move into Billie’s luxury apartment as roommates. Living together, the three women develop a close bond and a love for each other that they never thought possible, learning from their respective successes, failures, traumas, joys, loves, and heartbreaks.*
One of the most critically acclaimed and awarded hardcore features ever produced, Golden Age auteur Chuck Vincent’s Roommates offers career-best performances from its all-star cast–including stars Veronica Hart (Pandora’s Mirror, Boogie Nights), Kelly Nichols (The Toolbox Murders), and Samantha Fox (Her Name Was Lisa)–plus supporting players Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis, Bobby Astyr, Jack Wrangler, Gloria Leonard, and Ron Hudd. Astutely scripted by Vincent and Rick Marx, who took inspiration from the real lives of their leading ladies, this thought-provoking and sobering drama ranks as one of the last true hardcore “crossover films,” lovingly presented in this new 2K restoration!
*Note: Contains scenes of rape and sexual violence.
*No one under 18 admitted.*
SECS Fest is a sex-positive international film festival celebrating the artistry of erotic cinema while inspiring diverse communities to engage in adult conversations about sex.
SECS Fest is powered by Shunpike
About Shunpike
Shunpike is the 501(c)(3) non-profit agency that provides independent arts groups in Washington State with the services, resources, and opportunities they need to forge their own paths to sustainable success.
SEX 101 (95 min.)
This wide-ranging program explores first times, how-tos, and life-long self-discoveries. From awkward young couples to tentative forays into fetishism to later-life explorations of sexual pleasure, these funny, touching, and eye-opening shorts show that it’s never too late to try something new!
A short Q&A with filmmakers Becca Rieckman (Admissions of Desire) and Robert Lawson (Grey Narcissus) will follow.
FILMS:
- Admissions of Desire
- CUMunicaiton
- Grey Narcissus
- Have You Done It Yet?
- Helping Hands
- I Really Want to Get Fucked
- It'll Pass
- Lady May
- Menage a Quatre
- Own Your Fetish
- The Pile Up
*Masks are required at this screening.*
*No one under 18 admitted.*
SECS FEST is a sex-positive international film festival celebrating the artistry of erotic cinema while inspiring diverse communities to engage in adult conversations about sex.
SECS Fest is powered by Shunpike
About Shunpike
Shunpike is the 501(c)(3) non-profit agency that provides independent arts groups in Washington State with the services, resources, and opportunities they need to forge their own paths to sustainable success.
HIDDEN FLORA
Ryan Rox (United States, 2024) – 92 min.
Roxii, a queer/trans hopeless romantic, just wants to be loved and treated the way boys do girls. A string of boys and men inform Roxii’s view of sex and identity in late-aughts Las Cruces, New Mexico, in this autobiographical romantic dramedy.
HIDDEN FLORA will be preceded by the short film, JUNE IN WARSAW
*No one under 18 admitted.*
SECS FEST is a sex-positive international film festival celebrating the artistry of erotic cinema while inspiring diverse communities to engage in adult conversations about sex.
SECS Fest is powered by Shunpike
About Shunpike
Shunpike is the 501(c)(3) non-profit agency that provides independent arts groups in Washington State with the services, resources, and opportunities they need to forge their own paths to sustainable success.