This year’s Bear NZ film night at Rialto Cinemas will be the Australasian premiere of the acclaimed documentary Kink Crusaders, the story of Chicago’s world-famous International Mr Leather (IML) competition. 


The film has been described as “truly enlightening” by Filmmaker Magazine, “eye-opening” by Slant Magazine, and “upbeat” and “thoroughly engaging” by Edge Boston.


Director Mike Skiff has been behind the scenes at IML as a cameraman for well over a decade, and decided that it was time for a documentary that looked at the importance of the competition to the leather community.

“What I discovered was how IML has evolved in 30 years from a beauty pageant for gay white men into an unlikely institution for progressive social change. I also became aware of the importance of selecting individuals who can become the public face of the kink community, embodying the cause of personal sexual freedom around the world,” he told TwistedBear.com.


The progressive social change Skiff refers to has not been without its controversies: some have not been thrilled that recent entrants have included a heterosexual man and that one of the competition’s most recent winners is a transman in a wheelchair, Tyler McCormick.
“I wasn’t prepared for the amount of mean, hate-filled comments that got posted to our podcast on YouTube about the story,” Skiff admits.


Kink Crusaders is anything but mean, charting the rise of the IML competition since its inception by Chuck Renslow.


As Slant magazine notes, Kink Crusaders “is a microcosm of true diversity, with a skinny WWII vet (returning soldiers were the fathers of the leather scene), a pierced German with a voice like Werner Herzog, an Asian top skilled in the rope bondage used on prisoners brought before Japanese emperors, and even guys from unlikely locales such as Iowa and Oklahoma, all duking it out with the cosmopolitan, gay white male base.”


Number 8 Films’ Chris Banks says, “Kink Crusaders is the perfect film accompaniment for Bear New Zealand 2012. It’s got history, heart, a fast pace and naughty bits.”


Kink Crusaders screens at 6:30pm on Thursday 16 February at Rialto Cinemas Newmarket. Tickets are $20 through www.number8films.com.