American underground filmmaker Kenneth Anger, who died in May 2023, made exclusively short films. As one of the first openly gay filmmakers in the United States, his work is considered crucial within the queer cinema movement. His films often mix homoeroticism with surrealism.

Scorpio Rising is perhaps Anger's best-known work. Set to the beats of 1960s pop music, the film follows a group of bikers and explores the occult, homosexuality, and Nazism. It also idolises rebellious public figures such as James Dean and Marlon Brando.

Its 1963 premiere in New York did not go unnoticed: the American Nazi Party filed a lawsuit, and the Luther Church accused Anger of plagiarism. Nevertheless, critics hailed the film as a game-changer. It not only inspired a lot of music videos but also filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese and Nicolas Winding Refn.