SAN FRANCISCO, CA – When organizers first started putting together last week’s Amateur Erotic Film Competition in San Francisco, some confess that they were a little frightened by what prospective contestants might submit.Now that the entries are in, though, the judges find themselves more impressed than embarrassed; the amateur films submitted turned out to be far more than just a collection of stag films and gonzo tapes.

“At first, we were a little bit scared of what we’d get,” the Competition’s producer, Barbara Garcilaso de la Vega, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “But, I have to say, we were pleasantly surprised.”

In fact, Theresa Sparks, president of Good Vibrations, thought that some films came up a little short on the sex.

“It turned out,” Sparks told the Chronicle, “they were a little more artsy than porny.”

For the past couple of months, Good Vibrations has sought out work from amateur adult filmmakers, with only two limitations on what they could produce: no underage performers and no “small animals,” according to the Chronicle.

As part of entering the contest, filmmakers had to agree to share the distribution rights to their work with Good Vibrations, a requirement that may have reduced the number of entries but which also may have contributed to a higher average quality of submission.

The entries, approximately 20 in all, were narrowed down to eight finalists by a panel of judges that included several local experts in erotica, as well as Joy King, now an executive with Wicked Pictures, and formerly a publicist for Jenna Jameson.

King told the Chronicle she was impressed by the amateur entries, which were judged based on their creativity, plot, cinematic quality, and erotic content, and that the entries differed greatly from the type of amateur porn King has encountered working within the mainstream adult industry.

“For me, it was a breath of fresh air,” King said. “I was impressed to see what people in the Bay Area determined what was ‘sexy.’”

King conceded that there “wasn’t a lot of stuff that would sell in the mainstream porn market,” but said the movies were “interesting and well done.”

King said she particularly like a one-man effort that took a humorous approach; over a soundtrack of Bach and Chopin, the film centers on the problem of cleaning up after masturbating, without ever actually showing any of the masturbation.

“Those are the kinds of films that stood out,” King said; “funny, and you didn’t even see anything.”

Some entries struck a more serious chord, like “The Divine Nectar,” entered by Tallulah Sulis, a resident of Glen Park, and shot with her partner David Skonberg.

According to the Chronicle, the short film is “an advocacy on the powers of female ejaculation.”

In one scene from The Divine Nectar, a woman who compares the experience of ejaculation to baptism proclaims that once more women develop the ability to ejaculate, “It’s going to be a whole different culture.”

Sulis said the competition was the first step in her plan to create a 40-minute instructional film on female ejaculation and distribute it worldwide.

“It’s the perfect opportunity,” Sulis told the Chronicle, “to see it up there on the big screen and see how people receive it.”

Sparks said that while the main point of the festival was to have fun, the competition is also presents a good branding opportunity for her company.

“We’re doing this to have fun,” Sparks said, “but we also think it’s a good thing that people are out there, showing their works, and we can bring them together.”