The Pornfilmfestival Berlin is an independent, non commercial, not publicly funded film festival centered around the topics of sexuality, politics, feminism, gender diversity, post porn and body politics. Founded in 2006, the festival is the first of its kind in Germany.
The festival program includes an average of 25 to 30 feature-length films as well as around 100 short films, which engage with questions of sexual ethics, identities, body norms, conceptions of morality around the world and the artistic-alternative approach to the genre of pornography, in a wide variety of thematic program blocks. The average annual audience of 8000 visitors – slightly more than half of which are female – identify as a mix of hetero-, homo-, bi-, trans*, non-binary and queer and, with almost 50 percent of the visitors from all over the world, is incredibly international. Additionally, the film festival includes panel discussions, lectures, readings, workshops, performances, and presentations around the topic of sexuality today. The numerous festivals with a similar focus that have emerged in various cities and countries after the founding of PFF Berlin prove that a discourse on an empowering approach to sexuality and sex work is still relevant and that networking, not just for the community, is important.
The festival was founded by filmmaker and producer Jürgen Brüning. Today, it is organized on a voluntary basis in Berlin by a dedicated international team of six people, consisting of filmmakers, film theorists, film producers and journalists, and takes place in the last week of October in Germany’s oldest cinema, Moviemento, in Berlin-Kreuzberg as well as Babylon Kreuzberg.
Mission & transparency statement
Festival Programmers
Constanza Godoy
Constanza Godoy (she/her), born in 1988 and grown up in Santiago de Chile. Producer, audiovisual designer, voyeurist and migrant. She is a filmmaker from Universidad de Chile and worked as a production manager of different film formats during and after her studies until 2011, when she immigrated to Germany for further studies. Before she started working full-time in the documentary film industry in Berlin, she completed her master’s degree in literature and media at the University of Bamberg, where she worked as an editor for Spanish theater, and was also involved in the organization of film festivals and cultural projects, including those related to Latin America. With great interest in queerfeminist and critical perspectives from the global south, she became moderator of the Pornfilmfestival Berlin in 2018 and joined curator team in 2022.
Erica Kwok
Erica Kwok Chung Yee is an independent filmmaker and screenwriter from Hong Kong, currently based in Berlin. Her works explore themes of Asian femininity, and the relationship between the political and the personal. She believes in the liberating power of imagination through image and narrative.
Her films have been selected at various international film festival and featured in academic screening programs focused on Asian studies at institutions such as Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Yale University (Imaginable Future: Hong Kong Film Screenings 2023), The University of Hong Kong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and The University of British Columbia.
After September 2022, Erica relocated to Berlin to document the stories of Hong Kong people amidst the mass migration wave. She founded the cultural platform HK.Kino.Berlin, which curates screenings focused on Hong Kong independent cinema and video art. Her personal work continues to explore the intersection of personal identity, societal change, and the complexities of living in displaced or fragmented communities.
Jürgen Brüning
Jürgen Brüning (he/him), born 1958 in a small town near Bonn, West Germany. Producer, filmmaker, curator. Various film productions with Bruce LaBruce, Shu Lea Cheang, Cheryl Dunye, Thunska Pansiitivorakul. Co-founder of the gay porn production companies Cazzo Film, 1995 and Wurstfilm, 2003. His own film works include “West fickt Ost” (2001) and “Klappe” (2022). Conducted film workshops on behalf of the Goethe Institute in Manila and Jakarta. Member of the cinema collective Eiszeit from 1981 to 1988. Head of Film Department at Media Art Center Hallwalls in Buffalo, New York from 1988 to 1990. Program director of Kino Arsenal of the Friends of the German Cinematheque, Berlin from 1990 to 1994 . Co-programmer of the Interfilm Film Festival Berlin from 1981 to 1990. Co-founder of the Lesbian + Gay Film Festival Berlin from 1993 to 1995. Founder of the Pornfilmfestival Berlin, 2006. Member of the selection committee of the DokFilmfestival Leipzig from 1995 to 2005. Member of the pre-selection committee of Berlinale section Panorama since 1999. Film talks at the Berlinale in sections Forum and Panorama since 1989.
KIKI Petersen
KIKI Petersen (he/him), born in 1970, since 1992 sound and cameraman for various film and TV productions. Studied Very Liberal Arts at HBK Braunschweig with Marina Abramovic and Birgit Hein from 1995 to 2001. Co-founded porn production company Cazzo Film in 1995, where he worked for many years, as well as for other porn production companies, as a DOP. Direction, camera and editing for music videos. Since 2003 filmmaker and lecturer for documentary and experimental film as well as in “Visual & Media Anthropology”, various workshops in Sao Paulo, Taipei, Chongqing. Since 2009 presenter at the Berlinale, for which he also writes catalog texts. Curates film programs for music (Sziget, Lollapalooza, Melt, Superbloom) and film festivals. Panelist and juror at various festivals. The six volumes of the “Fucking Different” series produced by him have been screened at the Berlinale and various film festivals worldwide.
Lina Bembe
Lina Bembe is an award-winning porn performer and director based in Berlin. She has appeared in a wide variety of pornographic films, ranging from mainstream productions to different types of “feminist” films and DIY post-porn.
As well as working in the porn industry, Lina is often invited to write, speak or curate screenings on topics such as sex education, feminism, culture and explicit sexuality.
Manuela Kay
Manuela Kay (she/her), born in 1964, grew up in West Berlin. Journalist, publicist, publisher, presenter. Feminist butch lesbian with a penchant for mainstream gay porn. Made early films about lesbian sex such as “Du Darfst” (“You May”; 1992) and Airport (1994) with various teams and co-producing “Fucking Different XXX” (2012). Co-author of books on sex and film such as “Schöner Kommen” (“Coming Beautifully”; 2000) and “Out im Kino” (“Out at the Movies”; 2003). Jury member for many international film festivals, curates for primarily queer and erotic film programs and/or festivals. Staff member of the Berlin International Film Festival, formerly section Panorama/Teddy, since 2020 in guest management for the Competition section. Publisher of queer media “Siegessäule” and “L-MAG”. Podcaster with “Butchfunk”, co-initiator of the Dyke* March Berlin and recipient of the Federal Cross of Merit.
Walter Crasshole
Walter Crasshole (he/him) was born in 1982 in chilly Anchorage, USA. Studied journalism and film at San Francisco State University from 2002 to 2007. Editor-in-chief of SFSU’s campus magazine, published its first-ever “Queer Issue” with focus on the San Francisco porn scene in 2007. First independent porn performance in Courtney Trouble’s “Roulette”, which won Best Feature at the Pornfilmfilmfestival Berlin in 2009. Editor at “Exberliner” magazine for 10 years, writing focus on queer issues and film, as well as covering the Pornfilmfestival for the magazine from 2010 to 2019. Head of indie online porn magazine “Dandy Dicks” from 2015 to 2017. Research for Yony Leyser’s documentary film “Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution”, eventually co-edited oral history book of the same name, out on PM Press in the US in 2021. Became moderator at Pornfilmfestival Berlin in 2016 and joined the curator team in 2022.
Festival Coordination
Paulita Pappel
Paulita Pappel (she/they) born 1987 and raised in Madrid. Producer, director, performer, intimacy coordinator, entrepreneur and sex worker. Feminist slut. Co-founder of the porn platform Lustery and the hardcore film studio HardWerk. Has produced feature films and art films in her double life that have screened internationally of which some won awards. Workshop leader on topics such as inclusion and ethical production, among other things, at the Berlinale. Trained intimacy coordinator for mainstream film productions (Netflix, Amazon, Tatort, etc.) and co-founder of the trade association for the porn industry in Europe – Free Speech Coalition Europe. Author of the book “Pornpositive”.
Team
| Festival Programmers | Constanza Godoy, Erica Kwok, Jürgen Brüning, KIKI Petersen, Lina Bembe, Manuela Kay, Walter Crasshole |
| Festival Coordination | Paulita Pappel |
| Moderators | Constanza Godoy, Jürgen Brüning, KIKI Petersen, Manuela Kay, Paulita Pappel, Walter Crasshole |
| Program Text | Constanza Godoy, Jürgen Brüning, Kai Hermann, KIKI Petersen, Manuela Kay, Paulita Pappel, Walter Crasshole |
| Program Editor | Lucky Ahornsteg |
| Website | Arno Welzel |
| Original Graphic Design | Moira Lam, Tim O’Leary |
| Graphic Design | Vana Bašić (PLUMP) |
| Guestcoordination & Accreditation | H. |
| Press coordination | Walter Crasshole |
| Social Media Management | Maria Maciejewska |
| Adult Industry Forum Programme | Lina Bembe & Paulita Pappel |
| Festivalcoordination Assistance | Labs & Zophi Mue |
