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Shortbus is a 2006 American comedy-drama film written and directed by John Cameron Mitchell, writer/director/star of the play and film Hedwig and the Angry Inch.<br />
The plot revolves around a sexually diverse ensemble of emotionally challenged people trying desperately to connect in bohemian New York City. The characters converge on a weekly Brooklyn artistic/sexual salon loosely inspired by various underground NYC gatherings that took place in the early 2000s. According to Mitchell, the film attempts to "employ sex in new cinematic ways", and it includes a variety of explicit scenes of sexuality.<br />
It was released in North America on October 13, 2006, distributed by THINKFilm, after premiering in May at the Cannes Film Festival, and it played in over 25 countries, winning multiple awards at the Athens, Zurich, and Gijon film festivals. Howard Gertler and Tim Perell received an Independent Spirit Award as Producers of the Year. The film was released to DVD in North America on March 13, 2007. The DVD features a comprehensive documentary, "Gifted and Challenged: the Making of Shortbus" (Director/producer M. Sean Kaminsky), the vrit-style "How to Shoot Sex: A Docu-Primer", deleted scenes (including a dropped subplot about a character who is the Bush twins' personal assistant), as well as a filmmaker/cast audio commentary.<br />
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