Gregg Araki’s new film, I Want Your Sex, uses explicit comedy and kink to explore desire, power and sexuality across straight and queer identities. The cult film-maker says he wants to offer “queer joy and positivity” amid war, immigration enforcement and genocide, arguing that sexual repression contributes to wider social harm.

The film follows Elliot, a 23-year-old graduate played by Cooper Hoffman, who becomes assistant to an assertive artist played by Olivia Wilde and enters a series of sexual awakenings. Featuring Charli xcx, Johnny Knoxville, Margaret Cho and Mason Gooding, it is Araki’s 12th feature and is opening on 700 US screens, unusually wide for an independent film. Araki reworked an earlier version after #MeToo made its original gender dynamics feel uncomfortable to him.