Two weeks ago, Studio@Gizmodo and SKYN Condoms partnered to put on Skynema: An Intimate Film Festival. Fans, friends, and filmmakers gathered together to watch some incredible short films that all answered the prompt “What does intimacy mean to you?”
The lights were low, the mood was cozy, and everyone enjoyed an intimate evening of drinks, short movies, photo opportunities, and personal appraisals from the enigmatic Bumbys. Stationed in Studio 17’s beautiful conservatory, the Bumbys offered “fair and honest” descriptions of participants’ appearances and personalities tapped out on typewriters right there on the spot.
After plenty of sipping, snacking, and snapping photo booth pics, we sat down to watch films from the nine finalists. After, the judges — Alyse Archer-Coité (Director of Culture & Programming at A/D/O), Tyler Ashley (Performance Artist/Choreographer), and Jacolby Satterwhite (Visual Artist) — crowned a winning film: the short but poignant Chicago Intimacy Project: Jessica by director Talia Weingarten.
Weingarten’s film showed that intimacy and sexuality aren’t tied to ability, and the director took home $5000 and a year’s worth of SKYN condoms. The audience award, including a gift card to Adorama, went to Mawie Talion and Christopher Alvarez for their film The Lonely Girl’s Guide to Intimacy. We in the audience were given chic bags containing SKYN condoms and lube. Check out the full reel we screened below, including all nine finalists’ films and a message from SKYN!
Giaco Furino is a Senior Writer for Studio@Gizmodo.
This post is a sponsored collaboration between SKYN Condoms and Studio@Gizmodo.