Uncensored in Lockdown: Restriction Breeds Creativity

Inventive fantasies from locked-down creators across the globe

Quarantine has produced some of the most creative porn of recent times. Uncensored’s screening showcased some of the best – demonstrating how limitations can become the inspiration for ingenuity, and how our own imagination can be our greatest lover.

These films are unique in their shared longing and frustrated desire. Each one expresses the creator’s fantasies – what they miss most, but also what they have discovered.

Recreated connections

Several standout films fostered a sense of connection between performers, collaborating despite the distance. In Sex in Times of Corona by CoronaSolidarityFilm (winner of Uncensored’s Jury’s Choice), a fun informative-style PSA uses a brilliant cast of disparate Berlin-based creators to demonstrate amusing ways to stay connected – from flashing appreciative neighbors, to phone sex through a tin and string. One hilarious skit featured a dildo on a pole being operated by a friend through a window, another BDSM on a makeshift doll.

Matt Lambert’s porn music video Moan Together is a stunning punk smorgasbord of sexy queer sex workers: dancing, singing, teasing, spanking, twerking, jerking, squirting to an original song by The Baby Dykez. (Both films acted as fundraising projects for sex workers in 2020).

Natural sexuality

Stuck in cities, nature becomes ever more alluring – luscious, vibrant, life-giving, revitalising. The sun’s rays give us the glow of summer while stuck inside, a sense of stolen sensuality.

In Vegetable Pleasure by Tormenta Cósmica the performer creates an urgent, wet solo experience among a room of plants.

In Solar Orgasm by Jeffe Grovchos, icy water drops and fruit juices flow down a warm body sunned by a window, licked off as part of self-love.

In Flowers/Decay by Toxicity & Mixxim the lusciousness of nature is celebrated – dew, sap, soft pollen and petals, just like our bodies when we make love. We are luscious, oozing, sultry slippery beings too.

Arid by Kupalua (produced by Brazil’s EDIY productions who won Best Body of Work) presented a surprisingly sensual encounter with a cactus that cannot be fully embraced – the kinkier side of eco sexuality.

Sexy strangers

We look, but we cannot touch. We remember those we see and take them home with us in our daydreams. We kiss, lick and fuck them with more passion than ever before because it is forbidden. Our minds are filthy playspaces, keeping us inspired.

Reverie by Danius Monoceros (which won best short film) focused on the urgency that comes when we feel like we have no time left to lose – when we see someone we want but can’t have, nothing is better than the sex we have with them in our minds.

Waiting for the Tsunami by Rori Dior created a more languid, summery dream, bringing the sensory pleasure of the holiday into the apartment with foliage, warming lights, long hot showers. In this dream strangers fantasise about the summery nature fuck denied to them – for one it’s waterfall-esqe shower sex, for the other it’s a playful kitchen spanking and a body-based foodie feast. A joyful, slightly silly, sexy adventure.

Solo serenity

Who do we groom ourselves for? How do we create the feeling of excitement, domination, connection when we’re alone? Solo films here hit differently when you know that this is the other sex someone may have available to them – there is a need to get more from ourselves, to be our own good lovers.

In Scat by Jeffe Grovchos, a person gets creative with masturbation, enacting upon themselves the domination of another. If there is no one to fuck, we can get ready for ourselves, be our own top, bottom, master, slave.

Newfound fetishes

The Silent Witness by Torri Lisek explores the suddenly-medical world we find ourselves in. During corona, the niche and medical is part of our sexuality, and can perhaps part of our fetishes – the setting for undiscovered sensuality.

Lockdown, for some of us, may be returning. These films serve as a reminder of the amazing creativity this year has produced. In the face of everything, we can find new ways to pleasure and inspire ourselves and others. Our bodies may be restricted, our minds and imaginations are not.