Netflix
Here’s the trailer for an incoming Netflix original film titled Circus of Books which is set to land later this month. The film is the latest in a line of new original series’ and documentary features that the streamer is becoming famed for. The Circus of Books was an adult book store in Los Angeles that was originally established as Book Circus as far back as the 1960s. Barry Mason and his wife Karen took over the business in the early ’80s and this new documentary, directed by Rachel Mason, tells the story of the legendary outlet. The Circus of Books trailer can be viewed below.
Official synopsis:
For 35-plus years, the gay porn shop Circus of Books gave Los Angeles’ LGBT+ community a space to socialize and celebrate themselves without judgement. Unbeknownst to many customers, the store was cultivated by owners Karen and Barry Mason, a straight, mainstream couple with three children who went to religious school and were unaware of their parents business. The Masons long refused to disclose the nature of their business to friends or family. While maintaining the secret, they witnessed the dawn of the HIV/AIDS epidemic firsthand, losing a generation of treasured employees. Still, during that time, they never identified as activists — just everyday entrepreneurs catering to a market, until the Internet destroyed it. Executive produced by Ryan Murphy, CIRCUS OF BOOKS is the debut documentary from artist Rachel Mason, who finally asks the least radical people she knows — her parents — how they became America’s biggest distributors of gay porn, and why Karen reacted so negatively when her own son came out of the closet.
Related: Trailer for Netflix’s new documentary The Pharmacist
The doc originally premiered at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival before being snapped up by streaming giant Netflix on which it will debut in just 10 days’ time. Watch the Circus of Books trailer below. The documentary lands on the streamer on 22nd April.
