Circus of Books

Circus of Books (2019) is a documentary by Rachel Mason that you can watch online on iFILM. The director turns the camera on her own parents — a soft-spoken Jewish couple who, for decades, ran a Los Angeles shop that became a hub for the city's gay community.

The tidy storefront hid something bigger. Karen and Barry Mason grew the place into one of the country's largest distributors of gay adult material, all while raising three kids who barely knew what the family business actually was. Rachel sits her relatives down and asks the questions nobody raised for years: about the double life, faith, shame and acceptance. Longtime customers and notable figures from the industry show up on screen too.

The film traces how attitudes toward LGBT life and Hollywood itself shifted over the years, and what it takes to make a movie about your own parents. It's a warm, surprisingly intimate watch for anyone who likes documentaries about people rather than scandal. Stream Circus of Books (2019) online on iFILM.