Sadomasochism

The filmmaker on her 1995 film BloodSisters documenting San Francisco’s leather-dyke scene.

After seeing my first Michael Haneke film, I left the theater sick to my stomach. Perhaps this is not the most obvious compliment to pay a director, but there is a visceral effect to Haneke’s work that I would be remiss in not sharing.

Law Professor Kendall Thomas talks to the director about Hallelujah!, her latest documentary on the controversial performance artist Ron Athey. Thomas and Gund-Saalfield hash out the questions of religion, pain, and pleasure his performances provoke.

1. Verdict

Stand and look up.

A discussion between long-time BOMB contributor Gary Indiana and the late Robert Mapplethorpe on the New York art scene of the late 1980s and the difficulties of intimacy, comfort and eroticism in photography and portraiture.