Audiences at Pornfilmfestival Berlin are getting an early look at Haunted, AORTA films' queer and trans erotic thriller about grief, memory and a very real haunting. With its cast and crew attending, plus writer Carmen Maria Machado joining a festival discussion, the film is shaping up as both a cinematic event and a conversation starter.

Essential Takeaways

  • Berlin premiere: Haunted is scheduled to screen at Pornfilmfestival Berlin on 21, 23 and 24 October.
  • Queer-led story: The film connects present-day queer and trans sex with the lasting shadows of the AIDS crisis.
  • Creative team present: Director Mahx Capacity, the cast and crew are expected at the festival.
  • Machado on the panel: Writer Carmen Maria Machado will appear in a closing discussion about sex, media and culture.
  • Staggered release: Explicit scenes are due to arrive monthly from 29 October, ahead of the film's planned 2027 release.

A haunting with something serious to say

Haunted starts with a familiar horror image - filmmakers searching for ghosts - but gives the idea a distinctly queer emotional weight. Its documentary crew investigates supernatural stories in New York's queer community, only to find that the grief they're examining may not be confined to metaphor.

That blend of erotic cinema, horror and documentary language gives the project a more textured feel than a straightforward genre exercise. According to AORTA films' announcement, the film considers how the AIDS crisis and other communal losses continue to shape queer and trans intimacy, memory and desire.

Why the Berlin screening matters

Pornfilmfestival Berlin offers a natural home for a film that sits between adult cinema, independent film and cultural criticism. The festival's programme has long made room for work that treats sexuality as an artistic and political subject, rather than simply a commercial category.

The screening also promises a rare chance to see the people behind the production in the same room as the audience. That matters for a film built around community memory; a quiet post-screening conversation may prove as revealing as the scares themselves.

Carmen Maria Machado adds literary bite

Machado's involvement gives Haunted an intriguing literary dimension. Best known for psychologically sharp writing about bodies, relationships, fear and power, she brings a sensibility that suits a story where the supernatural is tied to emotional history.

She'll join the festival's closing panel, "Sex and Media in Arts and Culture", alongside the film's wider festival presence. For viewers interested in queer horror or the relationship between explicit cinema and serious storytelling, that discussion could be the evening's most rewarding part.

A slow release rather than an instant drop

Instead of putting every explicit sequence online at once, AORTA films plans to release scenes monthly from 29 October. The approach turns the film's rollout into an extended series of encounters, allowing each piece to build curiosity around the eventual feature.

The full release is planned for 2027, which is a long wait by streaming-era standards. Still, the staged format may suit Haunted's subject matter: fragments, echoes and unfinished feelings are central to any story about ghosts. It also gives audiences time to discuss the film rather than letting it vanish beneath the next day's algorithmic noise.

Where queer erotic cinema goes next

Haunted arrives at a moment when genre filmmaking is increasingly being used to explore collective trauma. Horror is especially effective here because it makes absence visible: a dark room, an empty street or an unexplained presence can carry the weight of history without turning it into a lecture.

For AORTA films, the project also reflects a broader commitment to queer and trans adult storytelling. The studio's anniversary programming has highlighted its interest in community, experimentation and film culture, so Haunted feels like a natural, if ambitious, next step.

It's a ghost story, but the memories haunting Haunted are unmistakably human.

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