17th AVN Awards
The 17th AVN Awards ceremony, presented by Adult Video News (AVN), took place January 8, 2000 at the Venetian Hotel Grand Ballroom, at Paradise, Nevada, U.S.A. During the ceremony, AVN presented AVN Awards (often dubbed the "Academy Awards Of Porn") in 77 categories honoring the best pornographic films released between Oct. 1, 1998 and Sept. 30, 1999. The ceremony was produced by Gary Miller and directed by Mark Stone. Adult film star Juli Ashton hosted the show. "Double Feature!" won 10 awards including Best Director—Video for Jonathan Morgan while the night's other big winner, "Seven  Deadly Sins" captured eight awards including Best Film and Best Director—Film for Ren Savant. Several other movies won two trophies apiece including: "Cashmere", "Chloe", "Dark Garden", "Playthings", "Search for the Snow Leopard", "Tristan Taormino's Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women", "What Makes You Cum" and "When Rocco Meats Kelly 2: In Barcelona". Winners and nominees. The nominees for the 18th AVN Awards were announced in November 1999. "Seven Deadly Sins" received the most nominations with 15, followed by "Nothing to Hide 3 & 4" with 12 and "Double Feature!" and "The Awakening" with 11 apiece. The winners were  announced during the awards ceremony on January 8, 2000. Besides winning Best Actress—Film, Chloe also won or shared in four other awards: Best Solo Sex Scene, Best Anal Sex Scene—Film, Best All-Girl Sex Scene—Video and Best Group Sex Scene—Video. The most sought-after awards, Best New Starlet and Female Performer of the Year, went to Bridgette Kerkove and Inari Vachs respectively. "Dark Garden" was named best video feature, the fourth time a Michael Ninn-directed feature had won either Best Film or Best Video. Major awards. Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated  with a double dagger (). Additional Award Winners. These awards were announced, but not presented, in two winners-only segments read by Taylor Hayes and Christi Lake during the event. Trophies were given to the recipients off-stage: Honorary AVN Awards. Hall of Fame. AVN Hall of Fame inductees for 2000 were: No announcement at the show Multiple nominations and awards. The following releases received the most nominations. Presenters and performers. The following individuals presented awards or performed musical numbers or comedy. The show's trophy girls were Layla and Alexa Rae. Ceremony information. For 2000, the event was moved to  the eight-month-old Venetian Hotel and Casino and "Genesis" magazine noted the annual show "was as much style as substance as several thousand porn stars, directors, producers and fans poured into the massive ballroom." Following criticism of the previous year's four-hour show, host Juli Ashton announced she was going to try to keep the 2000 show short; it ended up running slightly longer than two hours. Alisha Klass tried to shock the audience during the show, first by coming out wearing a microscopic dress and with a ball-gag in her mouth to announce the winner of  Best New Starlet, then later by pulling off her clothes as adult stars jumped on stage to dance to orchestra Jimmie Lykes and the Club Swingers prior to announcement of the final two awards. AVN founder Paul Fishbein, who presented the AVN Special Achievement awards, announced they were being renamed the Reuben Sturman Memorial Award to honor Sturman for his contributions to the industry. Meanwhile, when Howard Stern refused to attend and accept his Achievement Award, Beetlejuice took to the podium to accept on his behalf and "rambled incomprehensibly" and had to be interrupted to stop what seemed like an  endless speech. Meanwhile, "Hustler" noted, "This year's AVN Awards inspired many catcalls and boos from the allies of losing nominees, prompting Jill Kelly to remark that the camaraderie of past awards shows had been replaced with a mean-spirited competitiveness this year." Several new awards were introduced for this years show; among them: Best Specialty Tape—Big Bust. The show was recorded and a video of the awards show was issued by VCA Pictures. Performance of year's movies. "The Houston 620" was announced as the adult movie industry's top selling movie while "The Devil in Miss Jones  6" was the top renting movie of the previous year. Section::::"In Memoriam". The annual moment of silence tribute for those who died during the past year, presented by AVN founder Paul Fishbein, honored the following people: Bob Vosse, Bruce Walker, Stanley Fleischman, Paul Wisner, Kim Kataine, Albert Sanchez, David Chandler, Lou Perraino and Rene Bond.