No porn in Pornotopia sex-film fest

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The controversial sex film festival, Pornotopia, is being forced to censor its act after the city of Albuquerque said that type of adult entertainment is not allowed in the section of town where it booked a theater.

The event's name is now Pornotopia-Censored , and, no, there will not be any black bars over parts of the movies.

Molly Adler runs Self Serve Adult Store and is the event organizer. Adler said there will not be any pornographic movies this year.

Instead, Adler said the show will include fully dressed women in burlesque, a drag queen show and a comedy section to poke fun at Albuquerque’s zoning restriction.

A zoning restriction is the reason there will be no porn at Pornotopia's November event.

“Pornotopia film festival features films that have plenty of nudity,” Adler said. Those films cannot be shown legally in the majority of the city of Albuquerque."

For the past three years the event was held at the Guild Theater in Nob Hill, but the city told Alder she was breaking the law.

“The first year we advised them of the rules and they continued with activity,” Zoning Inspector Matthew Conrad said. "The next year we explained that we would enforce the law if they decided to do it again.

"They did; we took it to court. Before the judge's ruling they held the event for the third time.”

This year, Pornotopia moved downtown. Adler said a month before signing with Sunshine Theater, which sits on the corner of Central Avenue and 2nd Street SW, the city said no again.

Adler was stunned since a gentlemen's club sits just a block away.

“The downtown 2010 plan prohibits new adult amusements,” Conrad said.

Conrad said that Knockouts Gentlemen’s Club was up and running before the new plan was in place, so it was grandfathered in.

That means the venue can stay on the block even if the clothes come off.

The city said it tried to help event planners by printing out a map highlighting where the porn film fest is allowed.

However, Adler said that's only about 10 percent of the city.

“We of course think that Pornotopia should be legal at least one weekend a year,” Adler said. “We should be able to show a film festival and exercise our free speech.”

According to the city, in some parts of the city free speech is limited to clothes on.

Adler said she is still looking for an area to hold the real Pornotopia erotic films and all even if she has to go outside city limits.