Pornhub Is Streaming Indie Film Festivals Now

The internet's leading destination for porn is moving into more serious cinema

pornhub oldenburg film festival
Last year, Pornhub premiered a Bella Thorne-directed short at the Oldenburg Film Festival.
dpa/picture alliance via Getty I

Over the past few months, Pornhub has repeatedly emerged as an unlikely pandemic hero. First there was the gift of free premium porn to all (in addition to the potentially more important but largely overshadowed gift of 50,000 face masks to first responders), followed by the “Cleanest Porn Ever” campaign in which models and performers demonstrated proper hygiene and social distancing practices, but in a sexy way.

Now Pornhub is giving back to a fractured pandemic-era society yet again, offering itself as a streaming partner to Germany’s Oldenburg Film Festival. Variety reports Pornhub extended the offer after the 26-year-old indie film festival announced it would be moving forward with plans to hold the event in September, featuring a combination of physical and virtual screenings amid the pandemic.

“We’d love to elevate the event beyond simply making your content viewable online and take advantage of the digital format to engage with audiences who will be tuning in from around the world,” Pornhub vice president Corey Price wrote to the festival. “This will offer a much different viewing experience and be more immersive.”

The Oldenburg Film Festival has reportedly yet to respond to the offer.

While Pornhub’s pivot to German film may seem unexpected, it’s actually not the first time the company has tried to make a name for itself in more serious film. Last year, the German festival premiered a Pornhub original directed by Bella Thorne, and back in March, Pornhub branched into non-erotic content for the first time with the documentary Shakedown.

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