FEAST ON...

In A Body to Live In, director Angelo Madsen brings to life the story and archives of ‘Gender Flex’ icon, underground artist, and pioneer of body modification, Fakir Musafa (1930-2018), as well as the movement he inspired. Beginning with his experiments and photographic work from the 1940s and 50s, the film then explores how body modification practices inspired gay underground BDSM parties in the 1970s and their particular role during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.

Weaving together over a hundred hours of unseen footage, as well as photographs, performances, and the voices of queer elders, A Body to Live In examines the controversial histories and philosophies of bodily experimentation and practices in search of bodily and spiritual transcendence. What emerges is a history forged in questions of identity and belonging as well as the place of cultural practices within subcultures.

This film contains images of blood, nudity, and body modification.

Australian Premiere