HUMP! Film Spotlight: Persephone Returns
Showing as part of the Fall 2026 HUMP! season.
Meet Ursinae Vesperal, the filmmaker and performer behind some of your favorite HUMP! films from years past, including Mue, On Bonding, and, from the upcoming Fall 2026 season, Persephone Returns. Ursinae’s work is identifiable by its dreamy settings, perfect music selections, and abstract and poetic themes. They sat down to talk to us about into what inspired them to make Persephone Returns, why HUMP! is so special to them, and some insight as to what it means to be both a director and performer when creating porn.
What made you want to submit this film to HUMP!?
As a lot of queer people, I grew up pretty obsessed with mythologies, especially Norse and Greek mythology.
However, they are pretty sexist, so I wanted to do Persephone Returns as a way of writing this story that I find very symbolic and beautiful in a less sexist way with a bit of a female gaze and in a way where Persephone is empowered and assertive.
So she's not being kidnapped; she's just answering the booty call of her fuckboy Hades.
What does it look like to be on set for you?
I work with my partner in life—it makes it a lot easier to be very comfortable and to work together. He's really been helping me since the beginning to scout locations and to create sets.
It's very easy to work with someone that you know so well, but as always during filming, we always need to have some kind of breaks and check-ups, and just make sure that everything is fine and comfortable and we’re having a good time.
I think I'm in this unique but very difficult position because I know what it is to be on each side of the camera—hopefully it helps me to be a better director. I also know what it is to be naked on set performing adult acts in front of people on camera—it's kind of hard to really let go and enjoy your performance when you're constantly thinking about how it's gonna look.
Especially for Persephone Returns—we needed to have the exact sex scenes indoors and outdoors. It's a lot more choreographed than usual. Usually when I film, I have kind of a rough idea, and I let the sex parts happen a little bit organically—wherever the performers want to take it. But for [Persephone Returns], I had a very, very clear storyboard with very specific sex positions that I needed to reproduce for editing purposes.
Why did HUMP! feel like the right place for this story?
What I really love with hump is the diversity. I love to see this wide array of desires and of kinks. I love to see a very funny movie, a very campy one, sometimes horror, sometimes comedy, sometimes very, very serious and intense. I think [my films] fall into the artsy aesthetic category.
What do you hope audiences feel first watching your film?
I hope it's really going to bring a lot of emotions and a lot of pleasure for the audience.
I'm always very interested in exploring the poetry that we can find in porn. Which is why the photography and the colours and the music are always very important for me, because I think it's part of a whole sensorial experience, and I want your eyes and your heart to be moved as much as your genitals.
What would you say to someone attending HUMP! for the first time?
Come open-minded and expect anything. You're probably going to be laughing so much; maybe [you’ll] be shocked, you may be disgusted—maybe you're gonna be like “ooh ooh I've never thought of that, but it's kind of kinky or interesting.”
So just take it all in and enjoy the experience.
What would you say to someone creating a film for HUMP! for the first time?
Fucking go for it. Be creative, be fun, do the weirdest thing you've ever wanted to see on screen because probably a lot of other kinksters and weirdos are gonna love it.
And do it right now. Do it early. Because filming takes so much time, so hurry up and do your movie for HUMP!!
You can watch Persephone Returns in theaters during the HUMP! 2026 Fall Season tour.