TORONTO — Gay adult cable channel HardTV is sponsoring a new award for this year’s Inside Out Festival.
The HardTV Hot Shorts Award will be part of the Toronto GLBT Film and Video Festival’s awards program and will award a cash prize to one or more films annually.
All Canadian films and videos screening at the current festival that address, in a unique fashion, GLBT sexuality and/or erotica will be considered for the award.
The winners will be selected by the Festival’s Canadian Awards Jury, which is composed of members of the Toronto GLBT and arts communities. Taking place over 11 days, the festival offers screenings, artist talks, panel discussions, installations and parties that highlight more than 250 films and videos from Canada and around the world.
“We are very honoured to be included with so many notable mainstream companies at this very prestigious film festival," HardTV’s general manager Brett Drysdale said.
“We are building HardTV into a gay XXX version of HBO or PlayboyTV with original programming along with the porn so we thought it would be great to get the brand out there in the mainstream.”
HardTV is a Canadian linear cable channel specializing in gay adult entertainment and is owned by Pink Triangle Press, a gay and lesbian media group.
Pink Triangle Press also partly owns Squirt.org and OutTV.