Art meets erotica in these rare, vintage ’80s films from a legendary queer director

Image Credit: ‘Juice,’ Altered Innocence

If you don’t know the name Arthur J. Bressan, Jr., you should!

He’s a director greatly revered in the world of queer cinema, responsible for bringing many LGBTQ+ firsts to the big screen. For example, his highly influential 1977 documentary Gay USA—capturing footage from Pride events across the country at the time—was considered the first of its kind to be made by and about our community.

And Bressan’s 1985 feature Buddies is considered the first American film to address the AIDS crisis. The story of a gay man who volunteers to be a companion to another who’s succumbing to the disease, the film took on an even greater resonance after Bressan died of AIDS-related complications just a few years later.

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