Ira Sachs

The Delta

The Delta

The complexities of race, class, and sexuality collide within a Memphis community in the strikingly raw debut feature from director Ira Sachs. With neorealist immediacy, The Delta tells what at first appears to be a simple love story: two young men—Lincoln (Shayne Gray), a closeted white teenager, and Minh (Thang Chan), a Black Vietnamese immigrant—meet at a cruising spot and embark on a nighttime journey by boat down the Mississippi River. But soon, imbalances of power and privilege emerge between them, as the film develops into a devastating vision of lost, wounded souls reaching out in the dark for human connection.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1996
  • 84 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.66:1
  • English
  • Spine #1309

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 2K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Ira Sachs, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • Audio commentary from 2001 featuring Sachs
  • New interview with Sachs, conducted by film critic Keith Uhlich
  • Two short films by Sachs: Vaudeville (1991) and Lady (1993)
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by author and film curator Michael Koresky

    New cover by Juan Miguel Marin

Purchase Options

Coming soon, available May 12, 2026

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 2K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Ira Sachs, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • Audio commentary from 2001 featuring Sachs
  • New interview with Sachs, conducted by film critic Keith Uhlich
  • Two short films by Sachs: Vaudeville (1991) and Lady (1993)
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by author and film curator Michael Koresky

    New cover by Juan Miguel Marin
The Delta
Cast
Shayne Gray
Lincoln Bloom
Thang Chan
Minh “John” Nguyen
Rachel Zan Huss
Monica
Anthony Isbell
Jerry
Colonious David
Ricky
Credits
Director
Ira Sachs
Screenplay by
Ira Sachs
Producer
Margot Bridger
Director of photography
Benjamin P. Speth
Editor
Affonso Gonçalves
Original music
Michael Rohatyn
Production designer
Bernhard Blythe