Description

“To see a Peter de Rome film was just impossible because this stuff was so dangerous and illegal.” – Rupert Smith

Armed with only an 8mm movie camera Peter De Rome was an eccentric English gentleman who in the 1960’s would politely ask young men to remove their clothes and “perform” on camera. Initially this was filmmaking for his own pleasure, but it wasn’t long before a growing audience wanted to see more, although at the time his work was considered far too subversive and corruptive for general viewing.

Peter’s story spans eight decades of the “gay experience” both in the USA and UK with first-hand experiences from World War II to Stonewall and beyond. The film PETER DE ROME charts his remarkable journey from cinematic outlaw to celebrated film icon with contributions from collaborators and some of those he has influenced. The film uses extensive extracts from Peter’s varied and often explicit work, from his early 8mm experiments in the 1960s to his extraordinary feature films to create a portrait of a true original.

PETER DE ROME celebrates the life and work of one of the UK’s most charismatic filmmakers. His work was daring yet iconic, his charm simple yet irresistible and his persuasive abilities simply unmatchable.

“If my films had been shown in England when I made them I would have been arrested. But in the last few years things have eased up…” Peter De Rome