Hardy Haberman is an author, filmmaker, educator, and designer and also a prominent figure in the leather/fetish/BDSM community.
His short film Leather that he made in 1996 shines a light on the leather subculture.
The film explores the semi-religious experience of bondage and discipline. For the film’s subjects, leather offers a way to build a relationship, experience a more intense sexuality or even exercise stress or past trauma. As one of the interviewees insist “Bondage is freedom.”
Leather demonstrates that this seemingly self-contradictory statement holds true for aficionados of B&D. The testimonies of several members of the leather community explain the attraction; the freedom that surrender can provide, the sense of well being that the trust implicit in the activity promotes.
The film may not recruit anyone new to the leather subculture, but it does add to an understanding of one of the queer community’s most underground elements as a sort of ode to sexual curiosity.
Labels: 1996, 2020, Frameline, Hardy Haberman, leather
