HUMP! Returns to Seattle for 20th Anniversary Tour
HUMP! Film Festival will return to the Puget Sound this fall with the second half of its 20th anniversary programming. The indie adult short film festival created by Dan Savage has been a staple in Seattle since its debut. This new collection of 22 shorts, selected from hundreds of submissions, will run 17 screenings in Seattle from September 18-27 and October 10-11 at three venues across the city: On the Boards in Queen Anne, Quality Flea Center in Capitol Hill, and The Lumber Yard Bar in White Center.
HUMP! places an emphasis on DIY culture, inclusivity, and resisting commercial porn conventions. Anyone anywhere is invited to submit, as long as their entry is under five minutes. Among some of the selections included in the fall 2025 programming are “Drone,” a trans cyberpunk thriller, “Lingus,” which was given the simple descriptor “The tongue eateth out,” and “Unbound,” a film about a disabled man’s journey of self discovery through sex. Following each screening, audience members are invited to vote on their favorites in categories such as Best Kink, Best Humor, and Most Creative, and a $10,000 cash prize will be awarded to the winners in each category.
Still from “Devotion”
Courtesy of HUMP!
Speaking on what festival organizers have learned 20 years in, Savage said, “The films audiences loved—the ones audiences showered with awards—were the unique and personal films where people weren’t trying to make ‘porn’ for a mass audience but sharing something personal that audiences might not have seen before,” adding that often people end up discovering new fetishes and kinks in the process. These reflections illustrate how viewers connect with authenticity, humor, and personality. By extension, community is built through representation and expression.
The festival’s time constraint has gone down over the years from twelve minutes to eight to five. This artistic choice pushes filmmakers to get creative. Reflecting on how bite-sized shorts work in favor of erotic films, Savage said:
You can tell a really creative story in five minutes—and shorter running times means more films in the program, more diversity, more representation and fun for everybody! A lot of films in HUMP! play as ‘skits’—like SNL skits (only better) and often with actual sex (one way they’re better)—and you can do a really good, really funny skit in five minutes. Or less—some of the best films every year come in under two minutes!
The fall iteration of HUMP! will be hosted by three Seattle drag icons. Betty Wetter, HUMP! host veteran, will be running the show during the screenings at On the Boards, while Miss Texas 1988, who has also hosted for HUMP!, will be up on stage at the Quality Flea Center screenings, and finally, HUMP! ‘virgin’ Bobbi Jo Blessings will be taking the lead at The Lumber Yard screening on September 25.
Scene from “Oasis”
Courtesy of HUMP!
