Arias With A Twist: The Docufantasy on AllMovie

Joey Arias is a singer and performance artist whose shows mix music, sexual ambiguity and over-the top visuals. Arias arrived in New York just as the downtown performance scene of the late 1970's was reaching its peak, and as he started making a name for himself he met Basil Twist, a talented puppeteer who was looking to expand his work in new ways. Arias and Twist became a team, and as they fused their complimentary creative visions Twist's remarkable creations gave a new life to Arias's ideas. Arias and Twist found an enthusiastic supporter in David Bowie and became stars on the New York underground scene alongside figures like Divine, Klaus Nomi and John Sex. But when AIDS swept through New York City in the Eighties, much of the creative community that helped inspire and support Arias and Twist was wiped out, leaving them in limbo until they enjoyed new success as members of the Cirque du Soleil troupe and revived their cabaret act for successful international engagements. In Arias With A Twist: The Docufantasy, filmmaker Bobby Sheehan celebrates the creative partnership between these two offbeat visionaries and charts the course of their career from the 1970's to the 21st Century, using interviews, archival footage and new performances to tell the tale. Arias With A Twist was an official selection at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival.