In 1976, Karen and Barry Mason were having trouble making ends meet for their young family. They answered an ad in the Los Angeles Times. Larry Flynt was trying to find people who would sell Hustler Magazine. What they thought would be a short side job turned into a full-time job when they took over a local store called Circus of Books. Ten years later, they were the biggest gay porn distributors in the US. The movie is about how they tried to balance being parents and being LGBT at a time when LGBT culture wasn't accepted. One of their many problems was that they could have gone to jail for obscenity and had to make their store a safe place for people during the height of the AIDS crisis. Circus of Books gives a rare look at a part of queer history that hasn't been told before. It does this through the eyes of the owners' daughter, Rachel Mason, who is an artist, filmmaker, and musician.
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In 1976, Karen and Barry Mason were having trouble making ends meet for their young family. They answered an ad in the Los Angeles Times. Larry Flynt was trying to find people who would sell Hustler Magazine. What they thought would be a short side job turned into a full-time job when they took over a local store called Circus of Books. Ten years later, they were the biggest gay porn distributors in the US. The movie is about how they tried to balance being parents and being LGBT at a time when LGBT culture wasn't accepted. One of their many problems was that they could have gone to jail for obscenity and had to make their store a safe place for people during the height of the AIDS crisis. Circus of Books gives a rare look at a part of queer history that hasn't been told before. It does this through the eyes of the owners' daughter, Rachel Mason, who is an artist, filmmaker, and musician.
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