Documentary is thrilled to debut the theatrical trailer for Angelo Madsen’s feature documentary A Body to Live In, an exploration of body modification and the radical cultural movement known as Modern Primitives, a group of people inspired by Indigenous physical transformation practices. The film traces the life and influence of performance artist Fakir Musafar, whose lifelong experimentation with gender identity and self-transformation helped shape queer BDSM and art communities across generations. Madsen’s film draws from an extensive personal archive—including rare recordings of Musafar—alongside reflections from both his collaborators as well as his critics.
Blending archival footage with commentary from artists and experts, including Annie Sprinkle, Ron Athey, V. Vale, and many more, A Body to Live In examines how practices which began as self-expression—such as piercing, corseting, and suspension— became forms of performance art. It also explores how this movement developed alongside the AIDS epidemic. Rather than offering a conventional biographical portrait, Madsen approaches Musafar’s legacy as an intergenerational dialogue, considering both the beauty and contradictions of his practice and body of work, as well as the movement in general.
A Body to Live In is produced by Luka Fisher (Connection/Isolation, The Cardboard Artist) and Madsen, and Talena Sanders (Liahona, Eastern State) serves as the director of photography. Madsen, whose acclaimed previous feature North By Current aired on PBS’s POV and received an Independent Spirit Award nomination, continues exploring his interest in subcultures in this work. The project is quite personal to him, as he had a close friendship with Musafar for the last 14 years of his subject’s life. In a prepared statement, he articulated the message he hopes his film will get across: “A Body to Live In is not about proving you can endure an extreme experience, but about how these practices become a means to experience individual, collective, and divine intimacy.”
After premiering at True/False last year, followed by a festival run including BFI Flare and Frameline, Altered Innocence (The People’s Joker) will release A Body to Live In in Los Angeles later this month before expanding to NYC and additional U.S. cities. A multi-platform digital release is planned for later in the year. You can watch the trailer below.
