One of several films centering people living with HIV at the upcoming Out On Film festival in Atlanta is Mickey & Richard, a documentary examining the life of Richard Bernstein, aka the 1980s porn icon Mickey Squires. 

Fortunately for you, anyone in the United States can view the film as part of the festival’s streaming program. The in-person screening of Mickey & Richard will take place on October 3, 2026, with streaming available on October 4th. Advance tickets for both are available now.

Director/Producers Ryan A. White and A.P. Pickle have done a beautiful job toggling between the on-screen life of Mickey Squires, the smoldering everyman who projected an effortless masculinity, and Richard Bernstein, the real-life man who inhabited Mickey and is now living as a gay man of a certain advanced age in Palm Springs.

The film is expert in not only showing us Richard’s doubts and insecurities – his modest incredulity as being the subject of this film, at this time in his life, stands in stark relief to his confidence in front of cameras – but the film also has something to say about the carefully curated lives we live online today.

Who hasn’t tried to limit their social media posts to the very best parts of themselves? And more to the point, who hasn’t felt the pressure of living up to those images they post of a perfect life. What if the flattering lighting in their profile pics on dating apps doesn’t tell the true story?

Richard Bernstein experienced these anxieties through the decades, as his iconic looks gave way to the natural aging process and insecurity set in. As life progressed, so did struggles with drug addiction and eventually an HIV diagnosis. 

The film is a nostalgic trip down fantasy lane for anyone who was there, and the film (very explicitly) shares a highlights reel of the video and photographic work of Mickey Squires in all his glory. Richard Bernstein’s commentary throughout doesn’t hold back either, on everything from his response to his HIV diagnosis, to the pressures of living up to a gay porn mystique, to the politics in the adult industry over the size of his “package.” 

The most moving revelation of all may be Richard’s realization about his own worth in the here and now, and that people in his life sincerely care for him exactly as he is today. There’s a helpful lesson there for all of us.

I had the pleasure of speaking with both directors of the film and with Richard Bernstein as part of a video interview series for Out On Film. The entire team is insightful and humble in their accomplishment, and Richard Bernstein can still rock a sleeveless t-shirt. 

Mickey & Richard is one of several festival entries that feature a storyline about people living with HIV and the pitfalls and rewards of aging in our culture. One of them, Welcome to the Toolshed, is a documentary short about a gay hangout in Palm Springs (again!) that caters to older gay men who were part of the desert migration to the oasis in the 1980s, expecting to die, and have instead found community. It plays as part of a documentary shorts collection that is also available for streaming.

Out On Film is one of the most heralded LGBTQ film festivals in the country, and an Oscar-qualifying one. Earlier this year it got its first Oscar win, when Two People Exchanging Saliva, which qualified through Out On Film, won a 2026 Oscar in the category of Best Live Action Short Film.

For more information on the festival, check out the Out On Film website.

Mark