by MATTHEW HAYS

Darryl Gold says it all began innocently enough. “I wanted to have a party at my apartment,” says the Toronto-based film editor. “And I needed a theme. So it came to me: everyone should bring over their favourite porn scene and show it to everyone else. That, of course, and mix plenty of cocktails.”

That was 2000. Gold says he was quite amazed at how many people had bad taste in porn that they wanted to share with their friends and neighbours. And since Gold has a number of comedian and writer friends, one of them came up with the idea of making his own porn parody, which he brought to the show to screen. That in turn caught on, with Gold’s assembled buddies and their art morphing into a full-fledged, booze-soaked amateur film fest.

“It’s sort of amazing, really,” says Gold, who does sound a bit dumbfounded by the success of his event. “What began in my bachelor apartment has now become something that routinely sells out 600-seat venues in Toronto.”

Sex and the cities

Though we purport to live in an enlightened age, Gold points out that much of what we see at the local multiplex remains quite repressed and devoid of frank sexual content. He’s more than happy to fill that void. “Once you create a space for this kind of film, people will fill it. Short films are often quite amazing, but there are usually few distribution possibilities for them.”

And porn, says Gold, is the perfect genre in which to let your artistic inhibitions run wild. “Think about it: porn is cheap. You don’t need a lot of money to do it. You don’t need good or convincing actors. It doesn’t have to look like a million bucks. There’s something liberating about that. In a way, it’s very freeing.” There’s but one warning Gold has for aspiring pornographers: “Don’t get existential. The audience for porn is really quite forgiving, but not when you get too heavy or deep. That they won’t go for.”

For the second year in a row, Gold is bringing his slutty film fest to Montreal. He confirms that old stereotypes about Toronto and our town hold true. “The audience here got into it very quickly. It didn’t seem as big of a deal to them. In Toronto, audiences seemed to need some explanation before they showed up.”

Satirical and salacious selections

Highlights this year include:

Origasmi, Toronto filmmaker Jill Rosenberg’s tale of Horny Joe, a man obsessed with a luscious magazine centrefold—a thrilling fixation until a paper cut gets in the way. Shameless is an entry from the Ukraine; Yakov Levi tells the story of Baba Alla, the former Soviet Union’s oldest hooker. She now works for a mere dollar per client, but three young college boys decide to go for it and find there’s more to Baba than they bargained for.

From France comes Wilfred Brimo’s Baby Baby, a 3D computer-animated musical short that was made to promote condom use (this down-and-dirty festival still promotes safer sex). And those thinking Vancouverites are too dull to think about sex will appreciate Andrew Park’s Doggie Style, an animated short about a pup and his relationship with a little girl’s teddy bear.

The corporate ladder is examined in Douglas Karr’s and Dave Huband’s Vertical Integration, in which a great deal of action takes place in an elevator. Montreal’s own Kieran Crilly will screen Construction Workers, an examination of the honest work and dirty talk blue-collar types indulge in. And ringmaster Gold himself will screen his animated short Mr. Lintball.

“Ultimately, I’d like to put out an anthology DVD of many of these short films,” says Gold. “In fact, we’ve already had a launch party for the DVD but haven’t got the DVD out yet. The crowds just get into these films so much. Sex on screen and booze, who can beat that combination? We’re just trying to have as much fun as possible.”

Darryl’s Hard Liquor and Porn Film Festival screens Saturday, June 10, 9 p.m., at SAT (1195 St-Laurent). Doors at 8 p.m., $15

>> Movie Listings