The 22nd AVN Awards ceremony, presented by Adult Video News (AVN), took place January 8, 2005 at the Venetian Hotel Grand Ballroom,[1] at Paradise, Nevada, U.S.A. During the ceremony, AVN presented AVN Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars of porn[4][5][6]) in nearly 100 categories honoring the best pornographic films released between Oct. 1, 2003 to Sept. 30, 2004. The ceremony, televised in the United States by Playboy TV, was produced and directed by Gary Miller. Comedian Thea Vidale hosted the show for the first time with adult film star Savanna Samson.[2][3][7]
The Masseuse won the most awards on the night with seven, including Best Film. The Collector won four awards. Other winners included: Bella Loves Jenna, In the Garden of Shadows, 1 Night in Paris and Stuntgirl with three wins apiece.
Winners and nominees
The nominees[8] for the 22nd AVN Awards were announced on November 12, 2004.[9]The Masseuse and The Collector received the most nominations with 16 each; Misty Beethoven: The Musical was next with 15.
The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on January 8, 2005. Adult film star Jenna Jameson was the year's biggest winner. Besides starring in both Best Film winner The Masseuse and Best Video Feature winner Bella Loves Jenna, she won individual awards for Best Actress–Film, Best All-Girl Sex Scene–Film and Best Couples Sex Scene–Film, all for The Masseuse.[1][3]
These awards[3] were announced, but not presented, in two pre-recorded winners-only segments during the event. Trophies were given to the recipients off-stage:
DIRECTOR AWARDS
Best Director—Foreign Release:Narcis Bosch, Hot Rats
Best Director—Non-Feature: Jack the Zipper, Stuntgirl[2][3]
Best Group Sex Scene—Video: Venus, Ariana Jollee, Staci Thorn, Zena, Louisa, Trinity, Jasmine, Nike, Melanie X, Bishop, D. Wise, Julian St. Jox, L.T., Mark Anthony, Tyler Knight, 2 others, Orgy World: The Next Level 7
Best Oral Sex Scene—Film:Jessica Drake, Chris Cannon, Cheyne Collins, The Collector
Best Sex Scene in a Foreign-Shot Production: Anna, Auxanna, Camilla, Daria, Gianna, Katia, Linda, Venus, Maria, Victoria, Rocco Siffredi, Rocco Ravishes Russia
Two new categories were announced for this year's show – Best Interracial Release and Best P.O.V. Release. However, two other categories had insufficient entries to warrant a competition: Best Anal Sex Scene – Film and Adult Video Nudes, the latter for the worst release of the year.[9] With the advent of digital video, emphasis started to shift to shot-on-video awards from shot-on-film awards. For the first time, the final award of the night was the Best Video Feature award, whereas in the past it had been the Best Film award. As well, the award for Best Supporting Actress—Video was moved on-stage into the main body of the awards show while the Best Supporting Actor—Film and Best Supporting Actress—Video awards were moved into the announcements segment with awards given off-stage.
The show was plagued by several glitches and miscues. Among them, the most noticeable one came when Sean Michaels announced the winner for Best Actress—Film as being Savanna Samson instead of the correct winner, Jenna Jameson. He and co-presenter Jessica Jaymes tried to correct the error but were drowned out by the orchestra and Samson, who, as co-host, was in the wings changing costumes, ran onstage in a towel to collect the award. When told apologetically by Jaymes of the mistake, in an epic wardrobe malfunction, Samson dropped the towel and exited naked back to the off-stage changing area.[2][7]
Earlier during the show, when Lit launched into its song, "My Own Worst Enemy", Jeremy Popoff knocked over his amplifier when he started playing and the musical performance was cut short. Lit came on again at the end of the show to redo the song so it would be recorded properly for television.[7]
The Paris Hilton sex tape, 1 Night in Paris, was announced as the adult movie industry's top selling movie and the top renting movie of the previous year.
Critical reviews
London's Men's World magazine gave the show a positive review, calling comedian Thea Vidale "a hilarious host" and adding, "it was clear that the 2005 AVN Awards had been a big hit; it was quicker, slicker and better than previous years."[1] The magazine also noted how well-dressed everyone was for the event, stating, "When the U.S. porn biz does glam, it does it 110 per cent."[1] It concluded, "With music from Smash Mouth and rapper Chingy, it was a good evening, made better by the use of high speed video scrolls to list the many award categories that would bore an audience if they were done live (best packaging?), and little video vignettes including a comedy cracker about Ron Jeremy, which saw him playing the violin while 'factoids' popped up on-screen."[1]
Video reviewer Denny Recob similarly enjoyed the show: "The first thing I noticed about this year's show is the comedian was outstanding. Her jokes were funny and topical and she actually knew the correct porn slang and knew the correct pronunciation of the stars' names. This is a big improvement from previous years."[11]
In Memoriam
AVN founder Paul Fishbein dedicated the show to two people who died in the previous year: Filmmaker Russ Meyer and film historian and director Jim Holliday.[7]
^"The Oscars of porn". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Digital. January 9, 2006. Retrieved January 13, 2016. The 23rd annual Adult Video News (AVN) Awards, the Oscars of porn, boasted a higher attendance than ever this year, with more than 5,000 watching Saturday night's two-hour-long event in a huge ballroom at the ritzy Venetian Hotel.
^"Lighting Up Sin City". Hustler. U.S.A.: Larry Flynt Publications, Inc. July 2006. pp. 77–80. Think of the AVN Awards as the porn Oscars.
^Grecco, Michael (Director) (2009). Naked Ambition: An R Rated Look at an X Rated Industry (DVD). United States: Phase 4 Films (USA) LLC. 1:52 minutes in. The finale to the expo is the AVN Awards Show, also known as the Oscars of Porn. The AVN Awards brings together 3,000 performers and producers and has the glitz of Hollywood's Academy Awards.
^ abcdRutter, Jared (March 2005). "Evening Belongs to Jenna as Adult Superstar Jameson Takes Home Top Prizes". Adult Video News. Vol. 21, no. 3. Chatsworth, California, U.S.A.: AVN Publications, Inc. pp. 38–87. ISSN0883-7090.
