29th AVN Awards

The 29th AVN Awards ceremony, presented by Adult Video News, honored the best pornographic movies and adult entertainment products of 2011 of the United States and took place January 21, 2012, at a new venue, The Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Paradise, Nevada. Movies or products released between Oct. 1, 2010 and Sept. 30, 2011 were eligible. The ceremony was televised in the United States by Showtime. Comedian Dave Attell hosted the show for the second time. He first presided over the 27th ceremony held in 2010, and shared the 29th ceremony with co-hosts Bree Olson and Sunny Leone. The awards show was held together with the Adult Entertainment Expo and Internext at the same venue.

Contents

• Winners and nominees
• Major Awards
• Additional Award Winners
• Visionary Award
• Hall of Fame
• Presenters and performers
• Changes to awards categories
• Controversies
• References

On January 11, 2012, AVN announced in a press release that for the first time the AVN Awards ceremony would climax with "the presentation of an all-encompassing grand accolade," Movie of the Year. "Even since the beginning, when we presented separate awards for Best Film and Best Video Feature, there's been no definitive AVN Award equivalent to Best Picture. Now we have one," said AVN senior editor Peter Warren. Rather than nominees, contenders would be chosen from the winners in the categories of: Best All-Sex Release, Best All-Sex Release – Mixed Format, Best All-Girl Release, Best Gonzo Release, Best Vignette Release, Best Comedy, Best Feature, Best Foreign Feature, Best Parody – Comedy and Best Parody – Drama. Voting for Movie of the Year would be conducted just prior to the January 21 ceremony, in a secret meeting of core members of the AVN Awards committee, to ensure winners of the 10 categories remain secret until their presentation. The event would also unveiled a new annual award, the Visionary Award, "created to recognize and honor a leader in adult entertainment who has propelled innovation and taken his company—and the business as a whole—to new heights."

The Rocki Whore Picture Show: A Hardcore Parody and Asa Akira Is Insatiable 2 won the most awards, nine and seven respectively, but the Movie of the Year award went to Portrait of a Call Girl. Portrait also won for Best Feature, Best Actress for Jessie Andrews and Best Director — Feature for Graham Travis. Rocki Whore won Best Director—Parody for Brad Armstrong, Best Screenplay—Parody for Armstrong and Hank Shenanigan and Best Parody — Comedy, among others. Insatiable 2 won Best All-Sex Release, Best Director — Non Feature for Mason and several best sex scene awards for Asa Akira and her co-stars. Individually, Akira won or shared six awards, but the coveted Female Performer of the Year and Best New Starlet awards went to Bobbi Starr and Brooklyn Lee respectively. Lee took home five awards on the night and four went to Starr. Manuel Ferrara won his fourth Male Performer of the Year award, more than anyone else in the event's 29-year history.