Queer US film distributor ALTERED INNOCENCE was founded in 2015 and is dedicated to releasing LGBTQ & Coming-of-Age films with an artistic edge.  With increasing censorship brought about by powerfully biased homophobic Social Media, there are less opportunities for alternative filmmakers to get their art in front of the audiences they so deserve.

One of Altered Innocence early successes  has been Yann Gonzalez’s KNIFE+HEART  an ultra-stylish and blood-soaked ode to ’70s-era with stunning performance from  Vanessa Paradis playing the producer of third rate gay porn. 

The latest release from Altered Innocence is   a restored edition of a classic French masterpiece of gay erotic cinema  EQUATION TO AN UNKNOWN that had been considered long lost since its initial release in 1980.

The story centers on a handsome young stud who rides his motorcycles through a myriad of sexual encounters with seemingly innocent other young men.  With very few words ever spoken, his journey starts in a football locker room and ends up with an unhurried orgy,  all played out to a rather melancholic soundtrack.

The film was directed  by the mysterious Dietrich de Velsa (aka Francis Savel / Frantz Salieri): this former painter was also the owner and artistic director of one of the first transvestites’ cabaret of Paris, La Grande Eugène. Years later, he collaborated with Joseph Losey on Mr. Klein and Don Giovanni.

For some reason or another EQUATION TO AN UNKNOWN is his only film which is such a great shame as it represents an important era in the history of queer cinema. 

Streaming on Vimeo from 5/18
and on DVD/BluRay from https://www.alteredinnocence.net/