Editor’s note: This article contains multiple references and allusions to themes only suitable for readers over the age of 18. Reader discretion is advised.

In The Lyric’s largest theater Oct. 17, a packed audience watched an unusual disclaimer for a short-film festival.

In it, three animated characters — sexual paraphernalia with big eyes and cartoon voices — detailed the rules of the event. A personified bottle of poppers instructed audience members to not “be an asshole,” though the close up drawing of a particular human orifice behind it indicated the audience would probably be seeing a few. 

HUMP! is a Seattle-based internationally touring film festival showcasing 90 minutes of curated erotic short films. The festival accepts submissions from filmmakers around the world, many of whom are amateurs. 

Allie Huska is the head of content and community at Noisy Creek Productions, which produces the film festival. Several years before she began working for Noisy Creek and helping coordinate HUMP!, Huska said she had a film in the festival. 

The festival compensates the performers of all accepted films with a portion of the ticket sales and provides cash prizes to films that receive audience awards, but Huska said when she submitted, she wasn’t even aware she would be paid.  

“I can say as someone who was just an artist who made a film for HUMP!, it was the most I was ever paid for a project,” Huska said. 

It’s free to submit a film to HUMP!, and the entry guidelines state: “All orientations, identities, genders and gender expressions, sexualities, bodies, kinks, fantasies and experiences are welcome.”

Despite accepting films that reflect a wide range of experiences, HUMP! has rules and safeguards. There’s a strict “no poop, no animals, no minors policy,” and the submission process involves photo ID verification. There are also a few technical requirements — including a ban on generative artificial intelligence — though films shot on phones are accepted.

Each film is reviewed by a jury, of which Huska is a member. She said last year, they received around 250 submissions, and there are a few questions she asks herself during the judging process. She said she looks for people and perspectives who aren’t often seen in mainstream adult films. 

“Is there joy?” Huska said. “Like, does this turn me on, or does it make me laugh, or does it challenge me in ways that feel like it could be exciting and good for other people to be challenged? Does this give voice and agency to underrepresented groups?”

This season’s festival includes 25 films and features themes like cowboys, fire play, an apocalypse scenario and a haunted VHS tape. 

“Is it porn or is it art?” Huska said. “And my answer is: It’s both.” 

HUMP! was started 21 years ago by Dan Savage, a sex columnist and co-founder of the LGBTQ+ nonprofit It Gets Better. His column “Savage Love” appears in the Stranger, an alternative Seattle news publication that was recently acquired by Noisy Creek.

Huska said the festival got its start as a joke. She said Savage wondered if anyone would send in porn to be shown at a public screening that their neighbors might attend, and he got permission to put out a full-page call for submissions in the Stranger. 

“And the answer was yes,” Huska said. “People absolutely will do it and are excited to do it.”

Since then, HUMP! has expanded beyond Seattle to tour internationally, stopping in over 50 cities across the United States and Canada. Huska said the format of the event has evolved as well. She mentioned the films are now available to stream on the festival’s website, and HUMP! has adopted a set time limit, a feature quickly became an important part to audience experience. 

“Even if something makes you uncomfortable or doesn’t resonate with you, can still appreciate it for five minutes, and then we’ll take you to the next thing,” Huska said. 

Huska said adult filmography can mean something different to everyone, but HUMP! participants often leave the theater having recognized a part of themselves in what they saw. She also said she has seen HUMP! bring audiences together and expose them to new things. 

“I see how special (it) is every showing for people to show up in community, sit through something that is different, not like anything else you can see, will expand your views of sexuality, will introduce you to things you might be into,” Huska said. 

Olivia Carter and Vivian Miller are a couple who attended HUMP! at the Lyric. According to Miller, the pair hadn’t originally planned on going, but their friends convinced them to attend. Carter and Miller both said they enjoyed the experience. 

“I thought it was really cool,” said Carter, who went on to say the films were, “very consensual the whole way through.”

Miller said their friends had attended The Lyric’s spring 2026 showing of the festival and found that while the spring festival had been more “serious (and) artistic,” the fall lineup had a more comedic tone.

When asked what they wanted readers to know about HUMP!, Carter and Miller said they encouraged people to attend the festival when it returns to the Lyric in March 2027.

“Be open-minded,” Miller said. “Explore your sexual life.” 

Reach Chloe Bjork at entertainment@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.