P eter de Rome was a short, twinkly-eyed and bespectacled old gentleman who died earlier this week just before his 90th birthday. He was also a pioneer in the field of gay film. Although the explicit nature of his work will put off many, there is real warmth and joy to it: the encounters he shows are neither smutty nor seedy, no less loving for their rawness or brevity. Casual does not equate to cold.ĭe Rome's films are, rather, intelligently wrought miniatures fully engaged with their subjects. His skill in storytelling and his joky surrealism mixed with bold sexuality has something of the richness of Cocteau (whom he adored) or the exuberance of George Kuchar. It has the passion of Kenneth Anger and the pop cultural sensibility of Andy Warhol. Having worked as a film publicist, with no technical training, he seems to have acquired his film-making skills by osmosis from his acquaintance with the likes of Alexander Korda, David O Selznick or Orson Welles. But his achievement is uniquely his own.ĭe Rome lacing up a projector in his Manhattan apartment to show some of his original 8mm short films. He had no hang-ups about his sexuality, and no trouble picking up men. Massage Euphoria Travis Freeman Massage Euphoria Travis Freeman tags: Gay photos number: 284 resolution: 1000x1500 filesize: 253 Mb format: jpg. Yet he was working at a time when many like him were stricken with guilt and when it was largely illegal to show explicit gay sex.
He could probably have been arrested for creating pornography but he found a way to trick the censors by shooting something innocuous at the beginning and end of each reel.