Macho Dancer

Directed by : Lino Brocka

"Emotionally sumptuous. An elaborate, near-operatic
melodrama of drugs, violence, and sex-for-sale."
-- Elliott Stein, Village Voice

"The film gives new power to the words
"erotic"and "sensual"!"
-- David Overby, Toronto International Film Festival

MACHO DANCER is a provocative film that explores the lives of teenage hustlers fighting to survive in Manila`s seamy red-light district. Based on a true story and directed by internationally acclaimed Lino Brocka, MACHO DANCER depicts a world of bars and brothels, drag queens and crooked cops, porno movie-making and sexual slavery, and drugs and violence. The film revolves around a youth who arrives in Manila seeking a better life, only to be forced to resort to prostitution to support his family. Through his eyes, the tragic lives of other young men and women in the same predicament are witnessed and the harsh realities of life in the Philippines are exposed.

When MACHO DANCER was first released theatrically, Filipino censors severely edited many of the film`s most explicit moments. This version is mastered from the sole surviving 35MM print of director Lino Brocka`s original version, uncut and uncensored, smuggled out of the Philippines and shown to a limited number of international film festivals. This print is now part of the permanent collection at The Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Strand Releasing Home Video is proud to reintroduce this gay classic on both DVD and VHS.