retrospective
The Destroying Angel
The Destroying Angel | Peter de Rome | US 1976 | 63 Min
| DCP
Metro
Tickets
Fr,30.09.▸23:00
Ein Priesterseminarist nimmt sich eine Auszeit und gibt sich sexuellen und drogeninduzierten Ausschweifungen hin. In The Destroying Angel verwendet der britische Ausnahmepornograf Peter de Rome die grundlegende Struktur von Edgar Allan Poes autobiografisch geprägter Doppelgänger-Geschichte William Wilson als Ausgangspunkt für die psychische und spirituelle Zersplitterung seiner Hauptfigur. Erzählt über eine Reihe von immer bedrohlicher und surrealer werdenden expliziten Szenen ist dieser Zusammenzug aus Horror-Topoi und schwuler Pornografie so geil wie verstörend und jedenfalls eine ziemlich einzigartige Erfahrung.
Peter de Rome
(* 1924, † 2014) was, according to the title of a 2014 documentary, the “Grandfather of Gay Porn.” Growing up in Kent, UK, and serving in the RAF in WW2, he later moved to New York and worked at Tiffany’s for most of the 1960s. A cinephile since childhood, the purchase of a home-movie camera led him to shooting explicit pornography, which back then was still illegal in the US. Unlike the bleak portrayals of the time, de Rome’s vision of gay life was playful. Lacking commercial success, he usually screened his films to groups of friends or at parties. After shorts like The Fire Island Kids, Encounter or Hot Pants, he made his long-form debut, Adam & Yves, in 1974, which features the last ever movie appearance of Greta Garbo, albeit without her knowledge. The Destroying Angel was his second feature. He published his autobiography The Erotic World of Peter de Rome in 1984, having stopped making films by then. His work received further recognition in the 2000s, when the BFI acquired most of his 8mm original films and launched a DVD compilation.
(* 1924, † 2014) was, according to the title of a 2014 documentary, the “Grandfather of Gay Porn.” Growing up in Kent, UK, and serving in the RAF in WW2, he later moved to New York and worked at Tiffany’s for most of the 1960s. A cinephile since childhood, the purchase of a home-movie camera led him to shooting explicit pornography, which back then was still illegal in the US. Unlike the bleak portrayals of the time, de Rome’s vision of gay life was playful. Lacking commercial success, he usually screened his films to groups of friends or at parties. After shorts like The Fire Island Kids, Encounter or Hot Pants, he made his long-form debut, Adam & Yves, in 1974, which features the last ever movie appearance of Greta Garbo, albeit without her knowledge. The Destroying Angel was his second feature. He published his autobiography The Erotic World of Peter de Rome in 1984, having stopped making films by then. His work received further recognition in the 2000s, when the BFI acquired most of his 8mm original films and launched a DVD compilation.
Spieltermine
Metro
Fr,30.09.▸23:00
