When you have as many plates spinning as we do, it’s easy to forget to stop and recognize all you’ve accomplished. This week we have several things to celebrate. Join us!

• Cinekink Honor! After three years of competing in the Cinekink Kinky Film Festival, we’ve FINALLY WON AN AWARD! Okay, the first year we won the Best Viral Acheivement Award for getting a big group of (then) strangers to show up for our LIBIDOLAND screening, but this year our latest kinky cutie, TOOSHIE SMOOSHIE, tied another awesome film for Best Comedy Short. We’re so proud. It’s no secret how much we love this festival and its director (the lovely Lisa Vandever), and winning this award means the world to us. We documented our trip to Cinekink Vegas & Cinekink Chicago in 2010. Catch us with Lisa at SXSW in March talking about sex in indie movies on March 13th (details soon)

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• IHTF Finale! A web series we wrote for tello films, I HATE TOMMY FINCH, has its BIG FINALE today! I HATE TOMMY FINCH in a 5-episode lesbian love story that follows two friends from 8 – 35 as they grow up, come out, and find each other. Gay gal interweb hubs AfterEllen.com & SoSoGay (UK) both gave us great reviews, and the subscribers on tello seem to be pretty happy…we’ve increased our base several times over since launching the series on 1/20. Only $3.99 to see what all of the fuss is about. Or you can check out this sneak preview if you’re a fan of test drives…

• A SECOND KNOCK gets the royal treatment! The award-winning friendly fire documentary we worked on with 5414 Productions, A SECOND KNOCK AT THE DOOR, is finally going to be available on DVD. Working on this documentary has changed the trajectory of our career, and we’re excited about the other doc projects we have in development Chris Grimes and the rest of the dedicated 5414 team. Check out the SECOND KNOCK trailer below and pre-order YOUR copy today. Jess is even in one of the DVD extras…

Thanks for sharing in our journey. Can’t wait to share what’s coming up next…

 

 

Our 5-episode, 2-gal, all-queer web series I Hate Tommy Finch has been unleashed on the world via tello films. The first two episodes are up, and the reviews rolling in are…great!

AfterEllen.com, the largest resource we can think of for lesbian entertainment news, said:

…more authentic lesbian relationship development than Grey’s Anatomy, Glee and Pretty Little Liars combined have done so far this season…

AND

…there is something singularly satisfying about watching a love story written specifically for a lesbian audience. My goodness, how it resonates. (Check out the full AfterEllen review.)

SoSoGay, a fast-growing UK LGBT online mag, said:

Lesbians, hold onto your hearts. I Hate Tommy Finch, developed and produced by Christin Mell, written by Julie Keck and Jessica King, will have you laughing and tearing up in equal measure. (Check out the full SoSoGay review.)

We’ll take that. We worked hard to make this web series successful, and we’re excited that it’s striking a cord with our core audience.

We wrote I Hate Tommy Finch based on an idea by Christin Mell of tello films. Jess co-directed the play version of the story (which was performed live in Chicago in October of 2011) with Mell as well as the web series, which was filmed at the same time. It stars Nicole Pacent (Anyone But Me) and Shannan Leigh Reeves (tello’s Cowgirl Up.)

Want to know more?

• IHTF trailer & extended sneak peek
• Current episodes are up in tello.com’s Premium Content section. The 5th & final episode will premiere on Valentine’s Day (2/14).
• And yes – we ARE already working on our next web series for tello…

 

2011 has been QUITE a year. We’ve partnered with new collaborators, developed new projects, and discovered success in new mediums. Here are some 2011 Kfink Highlights:

We Won Something!

This was our second year attending the filmmaker-focused, no-submission Flyway Film Festival in Pepin, Wisconsin. It’s no secret that we’re big fans of this intimate, vibrant regional film festival, and not just because there are many pie eating opportunities in the Pepin area. Last year we were proud to present our short film Libidoland and the teaser trailer for an indie feature we wrote called TILT; this year we contributed a silly short for Flyway’s opening night (see DIY Film Fest below) and screening our feature documentary with 5414 Productions, A Second Knock at the Door.

Imagine our surprise when we were presented the Flyway Spirit Award on opening night (by last year’s winner Gary King, no less). They say the award is for filmmakers who support and promote other filmmakers. We are proud to fit the bill and honored to be amongst such creative and hardworking people. Also, the actual trophy is a 10lb slab of marble shaped like an axe head, so…that’s pretty cool.

New Collaborators in 2011:

• 5414 Productions – In 2011 Chris and Leigh Grimes and Travis Edwards of 5414 Productions welcomed us into the fold and gave us the opportunity to further hone our social media savvy and exercise our intellectual side. They brought us in in early 2011 to help complete A Second Knock at the Door, a documentary on friendly fire which has done really well on the film festival circuit (7 fests, 2 Top Doc awards, 2 Runner Up awards) and will be available for all to see early in 2012. Details coming soon.

• tello films – Christin Mell of tello.films ushered us into the world of the webseries, which we had no idea could be so much fun. Our first web series, I Hate Tommy Finch, starring Nicole Pacent and Shannan Leigh Reeve, was originally performed here in Chicago as a live play (we sold out the house 2 out of 3 nights!) and will premiere as an episodic web series in late January.  Get ready to have your socks knocked off, folks. In these last weeks of the new year, we’re nearing completion of a second tello/kfink webseries, which should premiere in early summer.

New films:

Since so much of our creative time is spent in a cave writing (side by side, coffee IVs firmly in place), we also like to come up for air to make fast, silly short films. These finky (and sometimes kinky) cuties are our way to test new types of jokes and humor and a way to stay visible so that you remember what our work (and our faces) look like during hibernation season.

2011 was the year of:

• Mixin’ Vixins Prom edition:

• DIY Physics (in which we terrorized our friend Kelly by killing (or not) her cat):

• DIY BigTime (our pitch to Sir Richard Branson in which we boldly launched our intern, Finklet, into outer space):

• DIY Film Fest (our love letter to the hard working film festival directors in our lives):

• This year, we added another Kinky Cutie to our repertoire: more news about Tooshie Smooshie coming soon.

So, what’s in store for us in 2012?

• SHOPPING…no, not for new clothes. We’re trying to find the right home for our quirky stoner anti-rom-com Holy Tokes, based on the naughty memoir by Kevin Keck (Nerve.com). Yes, dear producers and directors, we would love for you to read it. Just ask.
• COOKING…nope. Not food. We’re cooking up several new webseries for tello.films, as well as stirring up some new documentary projects for 5414 Productions (including one we’ll start shooting in Austin, TX, in January!)
• SKIING…um, yeah, no. We’re Sundance-bound to see what the hubbub is all about. Have any tips for newbies? Are you going to be there? Gives us a holler!
• PANEL HOPPING…that sounds hot. We’ll be at SXSW with Cinekink director Lisa Vandever. Come see us talk about sex in indie film!
• AND….after we take a nap…we’ll continue working on some super-secret new indie feature collaborations with new and exciting partners.  Yes…we DO like to surprise you once in a while.

What will YOU be doing in the New Year? Tell us all about it in the comments section!