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IN LOVING BROTHERHOOD

A Feature Documentary on Motorcycles, Leather, and Chosen Families

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In Loving Brotherhood: Summer on the Road!

SUMMER CAMPAIGN: Fresh off IML, we have more big shoots coming up, and need your help: we need to hire camera, sound, take cars, rent gear.

 Brooklyn, NY, US
  • $11,393 raised of $85,000 goal
  • 19 donations
  • -989604 minutes left
This is a Fiscally-Sponsored Project

Fiscally Sponsored by Fractured Atlas

IN LOVING BROTHERHOOD: WINTER UPDATE 2025

Dear Friends and Supporters of In Loving Brotherhood and The Nine Plus Club,

I am writing to update you on the progress of the two films you supported with financial contributions: the short documentary THE NINE PLUS CLUB, and the feature documentary IN LOVING BROTHERHOOD. I receive excited messages frequently from many of you asking about what’s happening, and I hope this update will be able to provide the clearest picture of where things are now. 

First of all, let me say how grateful I am for the support you have shown my films over the past few years. I could not have gotten this far in the filmmaking process - and employed so many talented collaborators, without your donations,  contributions, and words of encouragement. As I am sure you’re aware, this is a fucked up time in American history. The huge right-wing backlash against trans people will soon be targeting gays, lesbians, and sex-positive people. They want to erase our history and create a climate where we live in the shadows again. Now more than ever, we need documentaries that expand our understanding of LGBTQIA+ history, of our resilience, of our power, and our shared brotherhood, and preserve these stories for future generations - because there will be future generations. We are not going anywhere. 

Initially, this project began as an attempt to document the history of the long-forgotten private NYC gay leather club THE NINE PLUS CLUB, for a short film. Much of the club’s history has been lost, with only a handful of surviving members still able to recall details about it. But what I’ve uncovered, including never before seen photos, interviews, and archival material, has been exciting, and it’s going to make a fascinating and moving film. 

As I interviewed the leathermen who recalled the Nine Plus Club, I started to realize that there was a whole larger untold story - of gay motorcycle and leather clubs, of the moment that some gay men decided they wanted to forge new identities as gay masculine men, and the way that these men’s chosen families wound up sparking a sex positive movement that expanded avenues of pleasure and identity for people all over the world. I wanted to tell that history through the voices of the pioneering leathermen and gay motorcyclists who were around during the golden age of this scene during the fifties and sixties. The process of doing these interviews developed into the feature documentary IN LOVING BROTHERHOOD. 

Last July, I flew to San Francisco for one of my favorite shoots for IN LOVING BROTHERHOOD. We arrived on the Thursday before SF’s famed Dore Alley festival. Over the next 4 days we filmed new interviews with our main subject Peter Fiske, renowned anthropologist and gay male leather community expert Gayle Rubin, and Mike Caffee, one of the original members of the Warlocks motorcycle club. San Francisco was so important to the development of the global gay motorcycle and leather club scene, so it was really important that we try to capture some of the history of the city. On Sunday, during Dore Alley, we filmed live impact play demonstrations at the booth run by The 15 Association, the famed leather/kink club Fiske joined in the early 1980s, and we were able with the permission of the festival organizers, to film further scenes and encounters with other subjects at the fair itself. 

In June 2024, IN LOVING BROTHERHOOD received a grant of 6 months of film office space from Rooftop Films in New York, which was a huge help. Having a separate office space to go to really helped give me space to coordinate moving into the next stage, editing. In August, I started meeting my editor Drew Tobia at the office to work on laying out the structure of the finished film. We pored over interviews and verite footage and started to cut together scenes and segments. I was excited about the momentum we were starting to build and the prospect of nearing the finish line. 

Many of you who are friends or followers of my social media accounts know that on November 9th, 2004, my mother, Felice Gaer, passed away after a 6+ year battle with Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. All I want to say is that it was a harrowing and heartbreaking experience. Mom went into the hospital the day after Labor Day in September, and she stayed there until her passing two months later. This meant that, though Drew and I continued to work cutting scenes for the documentary during this time, my thoughts and my time were mostly with my mom. 

After she passed away, there was the funeral and then the holidays and all the frenetic chaos and sadness of that period. It was hard to work on the documentaries, but my mom was so excited by the sizzle reel I showed her the year prior and she really wanted me to finish the film as soon as possible, so as soon as I felt able, I got back to work. I’m still grieving her loss and adjusting to the new reality of my life without her comforting and encouraging presence in it, but I’m more fired up than ever to finish these two films.

This past weekend, I filmed the final interview for THE NINE PLUS CLUB, with a newly discovered member who offered insight into what made 9+ unique. Now, all that is left to do for that film is shoot some re-enactments, and finish the editing. I will shoot the remainder of the interviews for IN LOVING BROTHERHOOD by the end of February. 

The two films are different in scope and focus, but it’s my intention that they serve as complementary works. We are already deep into our work on the IN LOVING BROTHERHOOD documentary script, and as I said, have started to cut scenes and segments. The goal is to have a rough cut of both films completed by the end of Summer 2025. From there, we will refine the films and move into further post-production (music, graphics, etc) with an eye towards releasing both in 2026. Of course I will update you further over the course of this year as we get closer to our goals. 

One great piece of news, that I’ve saved for last, is that an angel investor has come in with a significant amount of funding that will get us much closer to our fundraising goal. It’s an incredible relief, as this is one of the worst times for documentary funding in years. But we can still use additional financial support, which is where you come in. As you know all contributions are tax-deductible and go right into the movie. Even small amounts go a long way towards helping me finish the films. One-time donations, or (even better) setting up a monthly recurring payment, even of a small amount, helps us hit our fundraising goal and finish both films. 

It’s my intention that both THE NINE PLUS CLUB and IN LOVING BROTHERHOOD show the fullness of our lives as queer people, and how resilient we are at finding and creating underground networks of connection during horrible political climates. The subjects featured in both films are pioneers, who carved out spaces to explore themselves, define themselves, and created a way of life that would go on to impact millions of people around the world, including myself. 

I’m grateful to have the opportunity to preserve our legacy for the world to see. 

Have a great weekend.

Adam Baran
Director
IN LOVING BROTHERHOOD, THE NINE PLUS CLUB
In Loving Brotherhood: Summer on the Road!

We’re traveling around the US this summer to finish our feature documentary.Through intimate interviews and rare archival footage, IN LOVING BROTHERHOOD explores the untold history of the gay motorcycle and leather club scene from the pre-Stonewall era to today, shining a light on the powerful legacy of a diverse community practicing community care, and self-acceptance in the face of relentless bigotry that’s resurging as we speak. This captivating documentary challenges stereotypes about leather, kink and fetish communities and explores the transformative impact of these chosen families on generations of LGBTQ+ individuals.

We are very close to finishing shooting, but need to hit the road this summer to interview leather elders far and near, and shoot with gay motorcycle and leather clubs in various regions of the South, Midwest, and Pacific Northwest. We will need to hire field crew, rent gear, transport crew and subjects, and hire an assistant editor to start building out our feature to get it ready for the full editing stage this fall. 

Your support at any level, from $5 to $50,000 is vital to helping us preserve this important history during an incredibly tense political moment. All donations are tax-deductible, and many come with rewards like thank you credits in the finished film, posters, DVDs, tickets to private preview screenings and most prestigiously, producer credits at many different levels.

Help us complete this very important feature film before its too late to preserve this history. 

Rewards

On-Screen Credit Thanks!

Donate $50.00 or more

Amount is fully tax-deductible.

Donations in excess of $50+ will receive a thank you in the credits, as well as on the website and social media
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Community Thanks

Donate $100.00 or more

Amount is fully tax-deductible.

Donating $100 or more will add you to our Special Thanks credits list. These donations go a long-way to the very practical needs it takes to make a film.
7 claimed

Special Thanks

Donate $250.00 or more

Amount over $1.00 is tax-deductible.

Donations of $250 or more receives A Special Thanks  credit in the film and a postcard for the movie (when postcards are made)
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Buddy Rider

Donate $500.00 or more

Amount over $10.00 is tax-deductible.

$500 donations will receive special thanks in end credits, on website, plus DVD of the finished film
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Road Captain

Donate $1,000.00 or more

Amount over $25.00 is tax-deductible.

Donations of $1000 or more receive all previous level rewards - thanks in credits, online, DVD, plus a poster of the finished film. 
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Associate Producers

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Associate Producer Credit

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Those donating $10K are eligible for an Associate Producer Credit. 
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Co-Producer Credit!

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Donations of $20K-29k will be made eligible for a Co-Producer Credit. 
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Producer Credit!

Donate $30,000.00 or more

Amount is fully tax-deductible.

Donate $30,000.00 or more
Amount is fully tax-deductible.
Donations of $30K will be eligible for a Producer Credit... on website, and on-screen at the end of the film.
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Executive Producers

Donate $50,000.00 or more

Amount is fully tax-deductible.

Donate $50,000.00 or more
Amount is fully tax-deductible.
Gifts of $50k are eligible for an Executive Producer Credit ... on-screen in film, on website, socials, and in the credit block on main movie poster
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