Photo by Rev Phil

Bike Smut is a film festival composed of short erotic films made by inspired cyclists from all over the world. We talked with founder and curator Rev Phil, who has been a significant member of the Portland bicycle community for over ten years.

Phil created Bike Smut in 2007, and consequently encouraged the local community of sex-positive bikers to make short films about bikes and sex in hoping to “spread a message of joy and liberation through sexuality and cycling”.

Clone-a-Willy: Can you talk on the beginning of Bike Smut? What was the catapult?

Rev Phil: In the beginning there was sex, and it was good. Then there was mobility and it was also good. Then the two were combined and it was really, really good. In this way there has never been a time when mobility and sex were not combined. We have always been more likely to survive by being faster than our peers; eat or be eaten, fuck or be fucked! But we in developed countries no longer live in a culture of scarcity. The challenge to our health and happiness has changed:

"How do I maintain my health?"

"How do I slow down the runaway train of capitalism?"  

"How do I hook-up with that hottie who looks bored?"

The answer is for all three is "Put the fun between your legs."

The foundation for a radical, sex-positive, human-powered festival of art has been laid by the absence of anything making space for our bodies and minds to explore at their own pace, in their desired direction. Half of all commercials are selling car culture and nearly every commercial is using sex to sell it. The freedom to explore how we move and/or how we fuck have been reduced to the most sanitized, commercialized transactions leaving us with insurmountable debt, environmental devastation, and a xenophobic stance towards sexual differences.

How we each express our mobility and sexuality are individualistic ideas. Here is an experiment: try to change your gait. The way you walk, the way you dance, your body's natural reactions are all a part of you that most of us rarely think about. Same with your sexuality. If you are fortunate you feel comfortable exploring what sex means to you, although most of us fear that sort of change and vulnerability. Bike Smut makes space for us to see how some have chosen to explore these ideas and how powerful or silly they can be, which makes it easier for us to claim the same bikesexual freedoms.

At the initial screening of Bike Smut in 2007 (called, "The Pornography of the Bicycle") we had a line around the block, twice! It was the single largest attendance in the history of Portland's Clinton Street Theater and it was spectacular. Since then I have just tried to live up to the standards that come with better sex and better mobility. Thankfully I have had many excellent people helping me guide Bike Smut along the way.

Photo by Amy Darling

Clone-a-Willy: Is your focus the same as it was in the beginning? If not, what has changed?

Phil: My focus? I suppose I am still trying to make it work so... survival? At first I just asked everyone who would listen to make a short film. That hasn't changed although the movies come from further afield. Last year we only three of the 10 movies were made in the United States. I push the filmmakers to challenge themselves a bit more. I suppose the biggest change came between the first and third year. I came from a bike background and was ignorant of lots of sexual issues. I just wanted to get my community to make some great art. But there was another fold. More difficult than getting bikers to challenge their thoughts about sex has been getting the sex community to challenge its ideas about transportation. Either way, both are deeply ingrained.

Photo by Rev Phil

Clone-a-Willy: Out of all of the individual films you've experienced through this project, which have stood out to you and why?

Phil: Oh no you don't. These films are like my children. Every Time another comes along I am full of emotions and sometimes conflicting feelings. I can't pick a favorite. Personally, I really love it when there is a plot. Porno and short films both can afford to ignore the rules of narrative structure, but when the characters are put through a challenge and their reward is great sex, the audience really can connect with them, because they fucking earned it! On the other hand the ones that are most important are ones that push us to examine and challenge our beliefs. I was worried that the wheelchair porn would annoy the audience because all the sex was done inside a car, but folks just reveled in it.

Clone-a-Willy: Your website claims the festival is now in its "9th and final year". Why is the project coming to an end?

Phil: After 9 years of inspiring human-powered, sex-positive cinema Bike Smut is ready to change gears. We have never made DVDs or sell the movies online; the only way to see Bike Smut is when it plays live for an audience. This keeps our filmmakers safe and builds a community atmosphere and creates an opportunity for discussion within each community about important issues surrounding mobility and sexuality.

We never expected Bike Smut would have come this far. 500+ screenings in 25 counties. While touring with The Pony Express I traveled almost exclusively by bicycle, going 10,000 miles around North America and Europe with a laptop, projector, cables, and everything I needed to live on the road for a year. Since then Bike Smut has been inducted as the centerpiece at the world's largest sex museum. We don’t want it to stop but change is inevitable. Traveling the world satisfying bikesexuals has provided immense joy and liberation; meanwhile our being transient for a decade has its price. We can’t physically be in all places we want all at once. This brings us to ask; how do we…

- set the stage for exuberant performances

- maintain artists anonymity

- provide a safe space to challenge taboos

- maintain the integrity of our ideas

… without being present? These are difficult challenges even when we are present in your towns working with local activists.

Our patriarchal, capitalist system demands growth or death. We prefer revolution. The future of Bike Smut is still unknown. Help us write the next chapter.

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