THE FILM FESTIVAL that allows you to be a porn star for a weekend—not for life—is back!

The Pacific Northwest's biggest, best, and most beloved amateur-and-locally-produced porn festival returns this fall. HUMP! goes down November 12-13 at Cinema 21 and November 5-6 at On the Boards in Seattle. The deadline for submissions for HUMP! 2010 is 5 pm on October 15, 2010.

The Portland Mercury, our Seattle sister paper The Stranger, and the HUMP! 2010 jury invite local filmmakers, actors, kinksters, exhibitionists, and notorious sex-havers to get to work on their submissions for HUMP! 2010. The HUMP! jury is composed of local sexperts (ahem), sex-positive film critics, and sex-obsessed porn fans. The HUMP! jury looks for hotness, humor, and originality. Films do not have to be slick or professionally produced. They do have to be hot or funny, or hot and funny.

Films selected for HUMP! are screened over two weekends in Portland and Seattle. Filmmakers retain all rights. We return or destroy all copies of the films after the festival. Films are not released on the internet, and all screenings are monitored to prevent bootleg copies of HUMP! films from being made.

NEW PRIZE CATEGORIES:

Until now, HUMP! had two grand prizes: a $2,000 prize for Best Humor and a $2,000 prize for Best Hardcore. But some HUMP! audience members complained that the categories were too limiting. How were you supposed to vote if your favorite film wasn't particularly funny or all that hardcore? So this year we've created new prize categories and added more money to the purse:

Best Humor: $1,000 First Prize,

$250 First Runner-Up Prize

Best Sex: $1,000 First Prize,

$250 First Runner-Up Prize

Best Kink: $1,000 First Prize,

$250 First Runner-Up Prize

And...

Best in Show: $2,500 Grand Prize!

Prizes will still be awarded by audience ballot. It's possible that a film could win more than one prize and that a single film—perhaps a hilariously kinky film with a scorching-hot sex scene?—could sweep the HUMP! Awards! It's like the Oscars™ with Orgasms™.

EXTRA CREDIT:

HUMP! filmmakers are invited to use certain props and shoot at certain locations so that HUMP! audiences will know when they're watching films that were made just for HUMP! This year's extra-credit locations and props:

For Portland filmmakers: the Hawthorne Bridge (location); Mary's Club T-shirt (prop/costume); teabag, teabagging, teabagger (prop/sex act/cast member).

For Seattle filmmakers: the Pike Place Market sign and clock (location); Seattle Pacific University "SPU" T-shirt (prop/costume) teabag, teabagging, teabagger (prop/sex act/cast member).

Filmmakers are not required to include extra-credit props or locations, and failure to include them will not be held against filmmakers during the jury process.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION:

October 15, 2010

LENGTH:

Films must be no longer than five minutes in length. Filmmakers can submit longer cuts if they feel their film works better at six, seven, or eight minutes (no films longer than eight minutes will be considered), but filmmakers must submit a five-minute cut along with the longer cut.

SOME DON'TS:

No children, no animals, no poop, and—just this year—no anal hooks, okay? More details, release forms, and info at thestranger.com/hump.

TICKETS:

Tickets for HUMP! 2010 go on sale October 18, 2010.

Keep reading the Mercury and Blogtown for regular HUMP! updates and info!