DO NOT DISTURB is an adult arts assembly founded on embodied liberation.
Here, artists of all backgrounds offer their various reflections on human carnality: the vital impulse that unifies, animates and sustains us as a common species.

Euphoric to melancholy, sinful to spiritual, brutal to beautiful: we can see the full span of the human psyche stemming from this one root instinct, with interpretations as diverse as the humanity that imagines them.

Created in 2025, in response to sharply escalating affronts on American civil freedoms, DO NOT DISTURB set out to channel creativity, community, and carnality into mutual aid and material action.
Our ticketed events serve as fundraisers supporting the liberties increasingly at risk in the current climate.*

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This year DO NOT DISTURB will continue this effort with its inaugural film festival: a one-day screening event of short films, promoting political and social liberation via the liberated body in the motion picture.

Liberation concerns more than just libido. It stands not only for agency over our bodies’ pleasure, but over our bodies themselves. We'll reflect on this in two distinct programming blocs:

Streets Bloc: liberation embodied in public life – Welcoming political & social subjects from reproductive autonomy, LGBTQIA+ rights and protections, justice for sex workers & assault survivors, history of the adult media industry, and any topics championing the free body.

Sheets Bloc: liberation embodied in private life – A celebration of the uncensored, including NSFW animation, DIY/creator-centered indie porno, vintage erotica and blue movies, mature romance, kinky comedies and everything from the experimentally suggestive to explicitly sultry.**

DO NOT DISTURB will take place at Tattooed Mom, in the heart of Philadelphia’s South Street—a district defined by counterculture, activism and sex-positive expression, where free minds, voices and bodies converge without constraint.

*To date, DO NOT DISTURB has raised $2,000 for the Abortion Liberation Fund of PA, reserving funds for the reproductive autonomy of citizens traveling from forced-birth states.

**While we seek to avoid artist censorship wherever possible, we maintain limited but strict content guidelines: no artwork depicting any acts of assault or non-consent, underage subjects, extremely graphic violence, racism, trans- or homophobia, hate speech or unauthorized likeness portrayals. Compressive list of non content-related guidelines available in Rules & Terms section.

Awards & Prizes

Best in the Streets
Best in the Sheets
(decided by programmers)

Audience Award - Streets Bloc
Audience Award - Sheets Bloc
(decided by attendee vote)

Rules & Terms

By submitting a film (“Content”) to DO NOT DISTURB Film Festival (“the Festival”), the submitter agrees to the following terms:

1. Ownership & Rights
The submitter represents and warrants that:
The Content is their original work, or they have secured all necessary rights, licenses, and permissions to submit it.
All third-party materials (including but not limited to music, artwork, and locations) are properly licensed or used with permission.
The Content does not infringe upon any copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property rights of any third party.

2. Consent & Appearance Releases
The submitter represents and warrants that:
No individual appearing in the Content is included without their knowledge and consent.
The Content does not violate any individual’s right to privacy or publicity.

3. Age Verification
The submitter represents and warrants that:
All individuals appearing in the Content were at least eighteen (18) years of age at the time of production.
Submitter can provide appropriate records verifying the age of all participants, if requested.

4. Documentation
The Festival reserves the right to request and review documentation supporting any of the above representations, including but not limited to:
Model consent for filming
Age verification records
Licensing agreements
Failure to provide such documentation upon request may result in disqualification or removal from the Festival program.

5. Content Standards
The submitter represents and warrants that the Content:
Does not contain or depict minors in any sexual or explicit context
Does not include non-consensual material, exploitation, or coercion
Does not constitute harassment, blackmail, or invasion of privacy
Does not contain defamatory material or portray any individual in a false or misleading manner that could harm their reputation
Does not violate any applicable law or give rise to civil or criminal liability
Does not advocate or condone illegal activity

6. Compliance with Laws & Regulations
The submitter represents and warrants that the Content complies with all applicable local, state, federal, and international laws, as well as any relevant labor, union, or guild regulations.

7. Festival Rights
By submitting, the submitter grants DO NOT DISTURB:
A non-exclusive right to exhibit the Content as part of DO NOT DISTURB, including in-person screenings
The right to use excerpts, stills, and titles for promotional and marketing purposes

8. Programming Discretion
The Festival reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to accept, reject, disqualify, or remove any submission at any time.

9. No Premiere Requirement
There is no premiere requirement. Submitted works may have been previously screened or made available online.

10. No Compensation
Submission and participation in the Festival do not entitle the submitter to any compensation unless otherwise agreed in writing.

11. Indemnification
The submitter agrees to indemnify and hold harmless DO NOT DISTURB, its organizers, partners, and affiliates (the “Festival Parties”) from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including reasonable attorney’s fees and court costs) arising out of or related to:
Breach of any representation or warranty herein
Any claim involving copyright, trademark, publicity rights, or privacy rights
The exhibition or use of the submitted Content

12. Limitation of Liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Festival Parties shall not be liable for any damages, including, without limitation, indirect, arising from participation in the Festival.

13. Nature of Programming
The submitter acknowledges that the Festival programs work that may include explicit, sexual, or otherwise sensitive material, and that their Content will be presented within that broader context.

14. Governing Law
These terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.