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Being that the Inside Out LGBT Toronto Film Festival is a festival about gay and lesbians it makes sense that there would be a few about sex itself. So for lesbian sex you can’t do better than having director Shine Louise Houston do her x-rated version of Girlfight in the film Champion.

The basic premise of Champion is that Mixed Martial Arts boxer Jesse Easton (played by real life kick boxer and performance artist, Syd Blakovich) wants to be the champion both in the ring and in the bedroom. She always brags that she never loses in the ring or anywhere else, but Jesse can’t let go of her ex-girlfriend Cathy Summers (play by real life lover, Jiz Lee), while still having many other random lovers. Meanwhile, Jesse’s manager is trying to make her “less gay” and she is getting blackmailed by one of her former lovers’ jealous trans-gender boyfriend. This all leads up to a final fight with Jesse’s toughest opponent inside and outside the ring, Violet Vahn (Dallas).

When you are doing reviews of films sometimes what you think you are going to get and what you really get are two different things. What I was expecting was a mix of sexual politics that mixed the action of the ring and the action of the bedroom. The film starts off solidly with a great montage of Cathy pleasuring herself mixed with Jesse in the gym working out. After this though, it becomes a more typical mix of sex scenes and brief fighting segments.  It is all very well shot with a gritty realism but the storyline is pretty basic.

Director Shine Louise Houston is a highly regarded director of queer x-rated films and she doesn’t hold back in this film. If you are fan or aware at all of her Crash Pad film series then you will know exactly what you are getting here. The film is wall-to-wall sweaty intense sex and is not for the faint-at-heart.

This screening was presented at the Royal Ontario Museum, which made for quite a surreal experience. The real fun was being able to watch it in a full theatre of rowdy lesbians, cheering and having a great time. There is nothing quite like seeing a woman orgasm on screen and hearing the audience yell, “Yeah, you go girl!” As a film, there isn’t much to see here but if you are looking for 90 minutes of tough, hardcore, sweaty lesbian sex than this is the film for you—but you have been warned.