Paul R. King

A BODY TO LIVE IN offers an uncompromising look at the rise of BDSM performance art, body modification and the ‘modern primitives’ cultural movement through the agonies and ecstasies of transgressive artist Fakir Musafar and the communities that surrounded him. Blending rare archival footage with the voices of queer and artistic trailblazers, the film shows how pain, ritual, and transformation became tools of identity, survival, and self-expression. Weaving from early experiments and secret gatherings to the emergence of a global subculture shaped by the AIDS crisis and spiritual reinvention, Director Angelo Madsen (NORTH BY CURRENT) reveals not just the story of one artist, but a collective history of bodies in revolt - asking what it truly means to live freely in one’s own skin.

For the last 20 years, Phatima Rude has pioneered and inspired San Francisco's performative alternative queer punk drag scene, yet Phatima remained on the fringe of society, living out of a van. This short documentary follows Phatima's struggles and triumphs with illness, poverty, addiction, and gender identity.