Still image from Slipping Sideways, directed by Ottawa's JF Dufault

With the Guerilla Erotica edition set to appear Friday, March 18, we’re hotly anticipating the Mayfair Theatre’s annual short film festival that's happening this Friday night: Painted Lips and Lolly Licks.

The festival promises to get pulses pounding and juices flowing, but there's another reason why we are hyped: we’re in talks with the festival and Mayfair director Lee Demarbre about screening again some of the local films at the Guerilla Erotica launch event on Friday, March 18 at the St. Brigid’s Centre for the Humanities.

The Mayfair festival groups 18 short films including five made in Ottawa: Slipping Sideways (director JF Dufault), Polar Bear Love (director B.J. Kalie), Plan B (director Lisa Meuser), Kinda Cute (director Josh Stafford), and Scanner Gynecologist (director Lee Gordon Demarbre).

The event marks Demarbre’s fifth year at the helm—and he does not seem to be tiring of the experience.

“I'm most excited about turning the crowd on,” Demarbre told Guerilla. “It's so much fun watching people laugh and squirm during these shorts.”

“We have five local films,” Demarbre continued. “One about dinner guests having an awkward time using the restroom, one about speed dating, one about a peeping Tom, one is a mish-mash of old classic erotica, one an erotic fantasy on an OC Transpo bus, and another about a killer gynecologist.”

Those who know Demarbre’s own films will not be surprised the he himself is the twisted mind behind the killer gynecologist short. But don’t expect the festival audience to be quite as twisted.

“Mostly it’s a hip, young, open-minded crowd,” said Demarbre. “Mostly women, actually. Inspired filmmakers, too! It's not what you're thinking—we're not showing porn. This is risky and tattoo by most standards, for sure, but it's not about coming to the Mayfair and whacking off.”

Demarbre may not be showing porn, but he’s tapping into the buzz of the adult film industry with a one-woman prize-awarding jury of none other than porn star Bree Olson.

“One of my employees is a member on her web site,” Demarbre explained. “I asked him to ask her to get involved and she quickly replied. It was thrilling. I asked her to pick her favourite film based on an entertainment factor: ‘which one do you find most entertaining?'"

Painted Lips and Lolly Licks gets underway this Friday at 9 p.m. Admission is $6 for members and $10 for non-members.

Still image from Kinda Cute, directed by Ottawa's Josh Stafford





Still image from Plan B, directed by Ottawa's Lisa Meuser






Still image from Scanner Gynecologist, directed by Ottawa's Lee Demarbre






Still image from Polar Bear Love, directed by Ottawa's B.J. Kalie