Aorta Films to Relaunch Site, Expand eCommerce Offerings

NEW YORK—Queer indie porn studio Aorta Films will relaunch its updated website AortaFilms.com on June 1, featuring expanded membership and e-commerce capabilities, as well as a new clip library called Community Hardcore. Already offering 70-plus studio-directed short and feature titles, the bi-annual watch-at-home festival "Bedded" and work-for-hire platform Aortax, the studio will now additionally feature ethically sourced and curated content made by independent queer creators. Community Hardcore will feature clips from Jamal Phoenix, Carta Monir, Chelsea Poe, Azalea Trix/Colorblock Films, Billy Lore, Valentine VonBettie, Dove, Freshie Juice and Boardlord, with new clips added each month. Founded in 2015, Brooklyn-based studio Aorta Films' work centers on performers across a wide range of bodies and identities. From queer BDSM community and experimental performance contexts, the studio works collaboratively, prioritizing safe and enthusiastically consensual working processes, describing its work as "lusty, opulent, glorious fuckery." The studio's productions have been screened and won awards at festivals, galleries and museums in the U.S., South America and Europe. Most recently, Aorta titles won two Golden Raincoat awards at SECS Fest in Seattle. It received Best Short Film for “Hole Theory” and Best DocuPorn for “Another Beautiful Creature," a short documenting sex during pregnancy between a trans/non-binary couple. Celebrating the breadth of queer porn made by independent content creators, Community Hardcore is a new clip library made for queers by queers—a searchable collection of material featuring a wide range of kinks, scenes, sexualities, bodies and identities. Previously offering cinematic shorts and features largely produced by the studio, this expansion will allow Aorta Films to expand its collection to include DIY clips from colleauges in indie porn and sex work communities. Rather than focusing on one specific niche of queer sexuality, the library places masc gay scenes featuring cis and trans performers next to trans femme lesbian content next to med fet sessions next to non-binary orgies. This approach aims to build a library that speaks to the expansive desires of queer audiences, where viewers might identify in one way, but still enjoy porn representative of a wide range of queer sexualitites. The library will premiere with 10 clips, adding at least five new clips each month while the Aorta Films team seeks future funding to accelerate the library’s growth. The library’s clips will be available for unlimited streaming exclusively to members of AortaFilms.com, with a free “clip of the month” for members and non-members alike. “Community Hardcore is here to offer queer viewers a new way to browse, search and watch porn that affirms our diverse identities, bodies and kinks while giving viewers what they want: ethically sourced explicit content from their favorite creators," said Community Hardcore Curator Papi Femme. "Originally conceived as a way to showcase and provide additional income to queer and trans content creators, Community Hardcore will debut as a rapidly-growing searchable clip site connecting viewers at home with porn performers and content creators across the spectrum. Aorta members will be able to stream Aorta’s original, award-winning films alongside fresh, hot smut from this golden age of cottage industry porn.” Additionally, the site's relaunch will feature expanded e-commerce capabilities, allowing the studio to depart from Patreon as its former membership model and offer memberships and sales exclusively through the site. Individuals will be able to purchase memberships onsite and buy on-demand 24-hour streaming rentals and movie downloads, with merchandise to follow later this year. AortaFilms.com memberships offer access to the studio’s content, including unlimited streaming of all 70-plus shorts and features, plus exclusive streaming access to the bi-annual Bedded festival, the entirety of the Community Hardcore clip library and the studio’s Induction Series. Members will receive 50 percent off all downloads, priced regularly at $7.99 for shorts and $20 for features for non-members, and marked down for members to $3.99 and $10, respectively. Recent and upcoming releases include “Cum Closer,” a new Aorta Films short starring Mahx Capacity and Ashley Paige in a rough play, impact and fisting session. Also debuting is "Bedded V," the fifth iteration of Aorta’s watch-at-home festival which will run July 1-31, featuring three international shorts to be announced in June. “We’re making Aorta Films the destination for queer viewers who know great sex when they see it, and who celebrate kink and smut as a central part of queer identity," said founder and creative director Mahx Capacity. "Our work champions embodied, radical pleasure as a strategy for queer survival. We hope our work can continue to push back with wild joy and deep affirmation in a time where queerness and transness are increasingly under attack.” Membership to Aorta Films is available through the site for $18.99 monthly, $15.99 per month for three months, or $8 per month for 12 months. Members and non-members alike will be able to purchase 24-hour streaming rentals and downloads of all titles in Aorta’s library. Members also receive exclusive access to the studio’s bi-annual Bedded festival, and the Community Hardcore clips library.