A kinbaku performance in Hong Kong Photo: Courtesy of Tracy Wong

A kinbaku performance in Hong Kong Photo: Courtesy of Tracy Wong

Dim light, bamboo mats, kimonos and a few ropes. What comes to your mind when these things are put together?

These items were all present at a kinbaku or, "tight binding," performance held in early April in Hong Kong. Some 100 men and women, mostly in their 20s and 30s, sat in the audience in a roughly 20-square-meter theater, holding their breaths as this unfamiliar and mysterious performance played out on stage. Just like foreplay before love making, this performance served as a warm-up activity for Hong Kong-based Goooood company's Orgasmo 2016 Festival.

Erotic awakening

Kinbaku, or shibari, in Japanese, is a type of Japanese-style bondage. While many have seen or heard of it before, few Chinese have actually tried giving it a try or even have a good grasp on what it all entails. Similar to this shyness toward kinbaku, Tracy Wong feels today's young people in Hong Kong still feel embarrassed when it comes to talking about sex - an attitude that has led to the Category III (18+) film industry in Hong Kong almost dying out.

"In 1990s Hong Kong there were cinemas that mainly screened Category III movies, but nowadays they've all disappeared," Wong told the Global Times.

She added that people in Hong Kong are not as opened-minded as they appear to outsiders, although things seem to be relaxing among women and younger generations.

Believing Category III films are not just pornographic films but actually valuable erotic works of art, Wong and her colleagues decided to set up the Orgasmo Festival - a play on the word "orgasm."

While orgasms are something that the people of Hong Kong are reluctant to talk about in public or sometimes even afraid of mentioning, Wong and her colleagues want to use their festival to tell people "an orgasm is not something dirty."

"There are all types of orgasms for many different occasions, like in a movie there is the climax, and when we watch a football match," she further explained.

Celebrating sex

 "We call it a festival because we have a film to celebrate it. We hope people will discuss and promote it," Wong said, adding that while this year they expect at least 1,000 people to attend.

The organizers hope to eventually establish the festival as an annual event that falls on a Saturday in May.

This year's festival is scheduled for May 14.

Wong works for Gooood, which handles film screenings and academic activities, and donates half of its revue to charity organizations.

According to Wong, attendees will be shown a film that is currently still under wraps. So far only a series of films under the name of Gooood Secrets, has been revealed to the public.

"Life is sometimes so boring," Wong told the Global Times.

"Our goal is to change this."

Besides erotic art films, Goood Secrets also screens Time Travel films, such as old classics from the 1970s and 1980s, as well as Breakup Cinema, which is for anyone who has ever experienced a breakup.

Most of the academy and screening activities are held in old industrial areas of Hong Kong, a way for audiences to discover the city's past glory as well.