A celebrated documentary series about gay men and intimacy crosses the Pond.
Filmmaker Travis Mathews has spent the last several years filming gay men in various cities in self-reflection, all from the privacy of their bedrooms. Attaining a remarkable closeness with his subjects, Mathews encourages them to open up about things they might never articulate publicly, from erotic fantasies to confessions of deep-seated fears. The result is an unusually revelatory peek into the private thoughts and lives of gay men. After successful episodes filmed in San Francisco and Berlin, the next stop is London, for an hour-long piece.
Mathews has nearly reached the halfway mark for his $12,000 Kickstarter campaign, covering all stages of production for the newest installment in the series. There are about two weeks left to consider making a contribution. More info about the series may be found here, and more on the director’s work may be found on his website.
Through the previous IN THEIR ROOM films and his short and feature versions of the narrative I WANT YOUR LOVE, Mathews has already demonstrated an uncanny ability to attain a level of real intimacy with his subjects that is rawer and more erotic than pornography. Though some of his work has incorporated hardcore elements, it’s not for simple titillation but instead feels like a natural extension of the kind of rapport the director has forged with this subjects, and they in turn with the audience. His filmmaking technique perfectly ties into this familiarity, with subjects appearing at ease in his frame, almost as if the camera is not there at all. I’m curious to see what Mathews can coax out of the stereotypically more reserved British.
what (not) to doc 