I feel much better this morning, really I do. Of course it’s disappointing that folks in Sydney won’t get a chance to see DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER on the big screen, but I’ve gotten over the idea that playing at the in queerDOC, at the Dendy is proof that DAMON AND HUNTER is a real movie. To begin with, queerDOC is replacing a controversial, ground-breaking, awarding-winning documentary about gay love and gay sex with a television mini-series. In light of that, I can’t really feel it says anything about the film that they’ve decided not to risk screening it. (Is my insecurity showing?)

But that’s beside the point.

For all my doubts, I know in my gut and in my heart that DAMON AND HUNTER is as good a film as I’ve ever made. It’s a watchable, entertaining, and enjoyable little production, and it stands up next to any of films I’ve made about about “serious” and “decent” topics, all without war, death, disease. I didn’t get dyspeptic or depressed making this film, or lose any weight. In fact I smiled the whole way through.

I also feel like this adventure with the OFLC and queerDOC is another trial passed.

In the last year we’ve been approached by big name television, major production companies, and distributors; all dangling the hope of dollars and/or fame if we’d just do what we’d do a little differently. Each time has been stressful, trying to measure the needs of our family and my professional and artistic goals against the offer on the table. I’m a pragmatist, not a purist, so this isn’t an easy calculus, especially trying to factor intangibles like artistic freedom and integrity against the very tangible needs of our business and our family. If anyone has a formula for balancing my desire for artistic fame against being able to buy a new car (two kids + two big dogs = minivan), please let me know!

This also gave me a chance to see that there are people who support what we do, and that’s probably the most important thing. Long before Comstock Films ever made a nickel, there were people who said “Don’t stop. You’re doing something really important. You’re day will come.” I needed to hear that then, I still need to hear it. To the following I am ever grateful:

Lex and David at Queer Screen, for even considering this problematic little film in the first place

Brett at Qmagazine

Steve Dollar

Karen at My Secret Place, who graciously sponsered our posters

MelonFarmer.co.uk

The Sydney Star Observer

Max at RefusedClassification.com

Luke, Andrew and the rest of the gang at DNA

Mike at Indie Film Nation

Cinekink

Cathy at Bnews

YarravillePaul

JR and PJ at GayVN

Censor Watch

Ms. Naughty

Leigh and Krathyn at Bent Magazine

Raena at Frankel Lawyers

Luke at the Toolshed, who dipped into his own stock of DAMON AND HUNTER to get copies to the press and other interested parties in Sydney the same day they asked for them.

Documents on Call

Audacities of Censorship

Damon DeMarco and Hunter James

Fleshbot

Jack at GayPornBlog.com

Critter at Bitchless

The ever lovely and wonderful Viviane

Andreus

And of course Richard, Glitch Bar, and everyone else at MUFF for having the nerve to show this film to people who wanted to see it.

Over the years I’ve learned it really doesn’t matter how many times you hear “no”, so long as you hear “yes” often enough to keep going. Thanks to all of you for helping us keep going!

Regular readers have probably noticed that of late posting has been a little spotty.

Partly it’s because it’s August and there’s nothing I enjoy more than being on the water with my kids. A few more weeks and it’s back to school time, so I’m trying to get in as many beach hours with them as possible.

It’s also because MATT AND KHYM is taking up a lot of my creative energy. The problem (if one can even call it that) is that they’re too good. Their interview runs well over an hour, and it’s all good. Charming, sexy, sweet, humorous; it’s been really hard to figure how to cut in down to a managable length.

Lastly, I haven’t been writing in the blog much because I’ve been having to do A LOT of correspondence in support of DAMON AND HUNTER. It is abolutely our most successful release so far, both in terms of recognition and units shipped, and it turns out that trying to take advantage of that success take a lot of time.

We’ve been especially please with the reception DAMON AND HUNTER has received in Australia. It’s been covered in a number of magazines and newspapers, including DNA, The Melbourne Star, B-News, MCV, and QMagazine.

In July it played to an overflow audience at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival, and went on to be named Best Documentary at the fest. From there we were invited to show the film at QueerDOC, the world’s premiere gay and lesbian documentary film festival, in Sydney this September. All great news, with lots of thank you notes to write, journalist to talk to, and of course, boxes of DVDs to send to Australia.

Then late last week, the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification dropped the hammer on DAMON AND HUNTER.

On the 15th, QueerDOC received notification from the OFLC that screening D&H would be a violation of Section 8 of the 2004 Film Festival Guidelines. That’s right, in Australia the government can tell you what you can and can’t show at a film festival.

What will happen now, I don’t know. The festival has already distributed nearly 50,000 copies of the program, including two screenings of DAMON AND HUNTER (which the festival expected would sell out). We’ve already printed up hundreds of posters and flyers and made arrangements to have them distributed throughout Sydney. The festival is currently in negotiations with the OFLC to see if they can show DAMON AND HUNTER in some sort of edited form, and we’re trying to make an appeal of the ratings. (Winterbottom’s 9 SONGS, a film that featured explicit footage of straight sex received a reduced rating from the OFLC. But without the major distributor backing of a film like 9 SONGS, and the very short notice, I’m doubtful our appeal will be successful.) If I were a betting man, I’d bet that Sydney is not going to get the chance to see the film that Melbourne enjoyed so very much.

And then there is still the question of what might happen to the organizers of the Melbourne Underground Film Festival and the owners of the venue that had the audacity to show DAMON AND HUNTER on not one, but two screens. Each violation of Section 8 is punishable by a year in jail and a $20,000 fine. Perhaps I felt a bit histrionic when I said that MUFF and Glitch were doing something courageous by showing DAMON AND HUNTER, but I don’t feel histrionic now.

Of all the films the OFLC might target for censorship, DAMON AND HUNTER seems like a particularly inappropriate choice. Aside from the recognition the film has so far received as an outstanding work of cinema, it’s also been recognized for it’s value as a life-affirming and educational document. DAMON AND HUNTER is held in the Kinsey Library at the world renowned Kinsey Institute at the University of Indiana. It’s already being used by the Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York, and by the San Francisco Sex Information Hotline. Just this week it’s been being passed around by deligates at the 16th Annual World AIDS Conference in Toronto Cananda. Why? Because DAMON AND HUNTER is singular in it’s compassionate, humane, frank, and erotic depiction of gay love and gay sex.

And apparently that’s something that the government of Australia needs to keep the people of Sydney, especially the gay men of Sydney, from seeing.

Well actually we didn’t take it, we’re happy to be sharing it with Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea. Here are the rest of the winners:

MUFF 777 AWARDS

BEST FILM
darklovestory
Dir: Jon Hewitt

BEST DIRECTOR
Stefan Popescu - Roseberry 7470

BEST MALE ACTOR (Tie)
Aaron Pederson - darklovestory
Christian Poppi - Welcome Stranger

BEST FEMALE ACTOR (Tie)
Belinda McClory - darklovestory
Alice Ansara - Roseberry 7470

BEST SUPPORTING MALE ACTOR
Adam Royall - Blue Notes

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE ACTOR
Katy Manning - When Darkness Falls

BEST USE OF THE GUERRILLA AESTHETIC
demonsamongus
Dir: Stuart Simpson

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
Blue Notes
Dir: Bill Mousoulis

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Jason Turley - Blue Notes
Dir: Bill Mousoulis

BEST SCREENPLAY
Christopher Folino - Gamers
Dir: Cristopher Folino

BEST DOCUMENTARY (Tie)
Damon and Hunter: Doing it Together
Dir: Tony Comstock

Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea
Dir: Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer

BEST SOUND
demonsamongus
Dir: Stuart Simpson

BEST EDITING
Jason Turley - Welcome Stranger
Dir:Jason Turley

BEST SHORT (Tie)
Remembering Nigel
Dir: Frank Howson

Penny
Dir: John King

RUNNER-UP BEST SHORT
Glass
Dir: Ivan Duzel

A big congratuations to all the winners. A big thanks to all the other films that made MUFF 777 two weeks of truly independent film. And great big hug for MUFF and Glitch for putting their asses on the line to show DAMON AND HUNTER!

Melbourne, Australia — Despite unseasonably cold weather and a steady rain, an overflow crowd turned out for last night’s world premiere of Damon and Hunter: Doing it Together at the 2006 Melbourne Underground Film Festival, (MUFF).

It was the sort of night when most Melbourners choose to stay home and watch the tube, but that didn’t stop an overflow crowd from showing up for the unveiling of Tony Comstock’s latest erotic effort, Damon and Hunter: Doing it Together . Late arrivals struggled to pack themselves into the Glitch lounge as the crowd waited expectantly for doors to the theater to open. Once they did, it quickly became clear that folding chairs in the aisle weren’t going to provide enough seats. As the first screening started, hasty arrangements were made for another screening which started in a second theater 15 minutes later.

“Showing sexually explicit films publicly is strictly forbidden in Australia,” noted director Tony Comstock, “so it’s incredibly flattering that MUFF and Glitch would take a chance on showing this film. As much as it is a celebration of sex and love, the public exhibition of Damon and Hunter is an act of defiance, a challenge to the status quo, a pointed question – why is the depiction of joyous, passionate, carnal love treated like a crime?”

In a world where it seems the only way “serious films” address sex is by having one or more of the lovers die or get cholera or consumption, “Doing it Together” dares to show sex as pure joy, where the only consequences are good. In the whole range of emotions a director might hope to incite in his audience, arousal remains the last taboo – a taboo Tony Comstock’s films gleefully break.

“It’s my sincerest hope that last night, in that darkened theater in Melbourne, people were getting turned on by Damon and Hunter. I hope jeans were getting stretched tight by hard cocks; I hope panties were being dampened by wet pussies. I hope people had smiles on their faces as they thought about how wonderful it feels to love and be loved.”

The much ballyhooed “Free Lube!” promotion threatened to become an embarrassment when it was realized that supplies of Eros Bodyglide 30ml bottles were insufficient to provide for the overflow crowd. In the end one-per-person became one-per-couple, and a minor crisis was averted.

“I’ve always thought my films would make a great appetizer for a couple before they made a main course out of each other, ” said Comstock. “I’m glad that so many people came to see this film with someone they love!”

Right now several dozen people are sitting together in the dark in a small theater in the Fitzroy district of Melbourne Australia. Along with the theater owners and the MUFF festival organizers they are about to become party to a crime. They are about to be party to the public exhibtion of Damon and Hunter: Doing it Together, a sexually explicit film that has been officially rated X by the Australian government. Because it is X-rated, it is illegal to present Damon and Hunter publicly, even to a theater full of adults who know exactly what they’ve come to see. Because it is X-rated, it’s even illegal to sell Damon and Hunter in many parts of Australia.

We could have challenged this rating (as 9 Songs did), but it’s rather costly (about $8,000) with no certainty of success – too much for a small studio like Comstock Films. So our lovely little film about love and sex goes into the world as a bit of a pariah, a scarlet letter X emblazened on its chest.

So as much as it is a celebration of sex and love, the public exhibtion and distribution of Damon and Hunter is a wilful act of defiance, a challenge to the status quo, a pointed question – why is the depiction of joyous, passionate, carnal love treated like a crime?

Meanwhile, in another part of the Common Wealth, The Tate Modern, one of Englands most prestigeous museums is preparing to show Destricted, a collection of sexually explicit shorts. Says the British newspaper The Telegraph:

“Destricted, an Anglo-American production, is a two-hour compilation of seven short films made by artists and independent film-makers who were commissioned to “explore the fine line where art and pornography intersect”.“It is supervised by Gaspar Noé, the French director whose 2002 film Irreversible featured a nine-minute rape scene. Critics who watched it at the Sundance and Cannes film festivals say it leaves little to the imagination.

A man rubbing his penis on the drive shaft of a 50 ton lorry? No, that doesn’t sound like it was intended to arouse, does it? But is it art? I suppose that depends on whether it’s presented in black and white or color.

But the gist of the Destrict ratings kerfluffle doesn’t seem seem to have anything to do with art or porn. It seems to have to do with whether or not the Tate Modern will be able to sell DVDs of Destricted in the museum gift shop. If Destrict is art (18-rated), they can. If Destricted is porn (R18-rated), they can’t. As is often the case, issues that are offered as questions of morality or aesthetics are actually questions of commerce.

My films are not about “the fine line where art and pornography intersect”, they are about the broad vista of love, sex, desire, and pleasure. I have said and will continue to say that my films are made with the absolute intention and hope that my audience finds them arousing. (Which is why it’s unlikely you’ll ever see rape, or lorries, or Death Valley in my films.)

It’s my sincerest hope that right now, in a darkened theater in Melbourne, people are getting turned on by Damon and Hunter. I hope jeans are getting stretched tight by hard cocks; I hope panties are being dampened by wet pussies. I hope people have smiles on their faces as they think about how wonderful it feels to love and be loved.

What do you suppose Sir Quintin would have to say about that? What would the Tate Modern say? What do you say?

In advance of next weeks premiere at MUFF, DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER is getting some great pick up in the Melbourne papers!

MELBOURNE STAR
http://www.bnews.net.au/mstar_issues/m124/mstar_pages.html
Page 1, Page 10

MELBOURNE COMMUNITY VOICE
http://www.evolutionpublishing.com.au/mcv/
http://sxnews.info/imagedb/displayimage.php?pid=2806&fullsize=1
http://sxnews.info/imagedb/displayimage.php?pid=2814&fullsize=1

PINK BROAD
http://thepinkbroad.com.au/issue/23/inthemaking.htm

From the GayVN.com website:

MELBOURNE, Australia - New York-based filmmaker Tony Comstock’s Damon and Hunter: Doing It Together will be shown here as part of the 2006 Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF).

Describing the movie, Comstock said, “Damon and Hunter is a frank, humane and erotic exploration of the sexual and emotional relationship between longtime lovers Damon Demarco and Hunter James. The film offers a candid look at the central role that sex plays in the relationship between these two men.”

The two men are also U.S. porn stars. Demarco has appeared in such movies as Titan’s Alabama Takedown, James in Rascal Video’s Wrong Side of the Tracks 2.

“It is my absolute intention and hope that watching Damon and Hunter will be an erotic and arousing experience,” said Comstock. “Just as the director of a horror movie hopes to scare the pants off an audience, Damon and Hunter is absolutely intended to have an effect below the belt. I want people who see this film to think about how good sex can and should be; and in the same way that a horror director wants a physical reaction from his or her audience, I want a physical reaction as well. I want this film to turn you on, and I want you to feel good about the way this movie does that to you.”

Festival Director Richard Wolstencroft said, “Damon and Hunter is confronting, in your face, open and sexually frank… exactly the kind of film we like at MUFF.”

The movie will be screened on Tuesday, July 11, at 9 p.m. at The Glitch bar in the North Fitzroy district of Melbourne.

The MUFF program can be viewed at MUFF.com.au.

In case you haven’t noticed, thanks to the generous patronage of Pjur USA, there’s a freebie when you by the Damon and Hunter DVD – a little bottle of Pjur Original, the same lube Damon and Hunter use, and the same one that in my and Peggy’s night-stand.

It’s truly luscious stuff. It is, of course, absolutely wonderful for keeping your sex parts super slippery when you make love, but it is also absolutely wonderful for rubbing all over the object of your affection. With a few drops of Eros, hands glide effortlessly over tired, tense shoulders, uncrinkle bent spines, and soothe aching legs. Try that with any other lube and you’ll just have a sticky mess. With Eros you’ll be a slippery as a seal and ready for whatever comes next!

And after you’ve had your slippery fun, no need to jump in the shower. Just doze off in each others arms. By morning it will have disappeared; no stains on the sheets, no clumps or gobs, nothing save perhaps a just enough left over slipperiness in your deepest crevices to start the day right without hunting around for the bottle!

If you haven’t tried Bodyglide, perhaps you’re intimidated by the price. Yes, by the ounce it’s about the most expensive lube you can buy. But buy the application it’s no more costly than any other quality lube, and no other lube feels like, or lasts like Pjur.

But if you’re still not convinced (and you live in Melbourne), we’ve cooked up a little surprise with Pjur AU for the MUFF screening of Damon and Hunter. That’s all I’m at liberty to say right now, except to promise you that we’re not going to go getting you all worked up with our sexy little film, and then send you off into the night having to fend for yourself. Once watching Damon and Hunter gets you going, we’ll make sure you have everything you need to keep going, and going and going! After all, the best way to cap a fun, sexy, provocative evening out is to have a sexy, slippery, sensuous night in!

Peggy made this very lovely poster which my very wonderful friend Ell is going to be putting up in various trendy spots in Melbourne over the next few weeks to promote the MUFF screening.

If you live in Melbourne and you see one, take a picture and send it to us, and we’ll send you a copy of the Damon and Hunter DVD!

P.S. Snapping a pic at Glitch Bar does not count!

The Melbourne Underground Film Festival just posted a .pdf of the program for next months screenings, and I’m not embarrassed to admit it is very exciting to see Damon and Hunter: Doing it Together listed on page 7:

DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER
Dir. Tony Comstock | 46 mins. | 2006 | Documentary | USA
“Damon and Hunter” is a frank, humane and erotic exploration of the sexual and emotional relationship between longtime lovers Damon Demarco and Hunter James. The film offers a candid look at the central role that sex plays in the relationship between these two men. Forget Brokeback Mountain, if you want gay sex, check this out. Screens with PORNSTAR PETS.
Tuesday 11 July 9pm | Glitch
Q + A with filmmakers.

Of course I very nearly squealed with delight when I read “Forget Brokeback Mountain…”