Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark 1990 documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of New York City’s African American and Latinx Harlem drag ball scene. Made over seven years, Paris Is Burning offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion “houses,” from fierce contests for trophies, to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia and transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women — including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza — Paris Is Burning brings it, celebrating the joy of movement, the force of eloquence, and the draw of community.
Jennie Livingston’s film received almost universally enthusiastic reviews and a relatively wide release for a non-gender conforming documentary. Its fundamental humanity still resonates, more than 30 years later.
Staff Pick: Perry
As much a movie about class, race, and sexual orientation as anything you’ve ever seen, Paris is Burning is deceptively simple on its surface, but by the end you’ll find yourself devastated by its take on the American dream.
Steve Davis, Austin Chroncile
Jennie Livingston’s time capsule look of LGBT balls is an acknowledged classic, inclusively incisive in its portrait of a NYC diaspora of a marginalized community building bonds within itself without glossing over racism, gender identity and other perpetually germane concerns.
Vadim Rizov, Filmmaker magazine
Jennie Livingston’s seminal documentary not only introduced me to the Harlem vogue ball subculture; it also shattered the expectations of who can be the subject of a documentary. The sobering truth of the lives depicted in Paris Is Burning unapologetically addressed the societal challenges of their intersectional identities.
PJ Raval, International Documentary Association
Media Partner
Jennie Livingston
Dorian Corey, Pepper LaBeija, Junior LaBeija, Angie Xtravaganza, Venus Xtravaganza
USA
1990
English
Documentary Jury Prize, Sundance
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Executive Producer
Davis Lacy, Nigel Finch
Producer
Jennie Livingston
Co-Producer
Barry Swimar
Cinematography
Paul Gibson
Original Music
Jonathan Oppenheim
90s, Baby!
Ten years. 11 weeks. 90 films from the 1990s. This summer, 90’s Baby! takes a deep dive into a defining decade of cinema.
Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould
A bona fide classic and arguably the greatest Canadian film of the 90s, Girard's dazzling deconstruction of the biopic gives us the mercurial pianist Glenn Gould as Picasso might have rendered him, a cubist portrait combining multimedia vignettes.
Dazed and Confused
The last day of high school in May, 1976: seniors debate party politics while next term's freshmen run the gauntlet of brutal initiation rites, barely comforted by the knowledge that they'll wield the stick one day.
Short Cuts
Altman's adaptation of Raymond Carver short stories, Short Cuts weaves between 8 or 9 overlapping storylines and 22 characters. it's a teeming, caustic and compassionate human comedy; a singularly astringent, often cynical view of America and Americana.
Three Colours: Blue
The first of Kieslowski's acclaimed Three Colours Trilogy, inspired by the French Revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity and the French flag, the Tricolour. Blue stars Juliette Binoche as a young woman grieving her husband and child.
Schindler's List
One of the most acclaimed films of the 90s, Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Thomas Keneally's Schindler's Ark is the story of a German industrialist whose conscience is stirred to save his Jewish workers from the camps.
Free event.
Three Colours: Red
Irène Jacob plays Valentine, a runway model living in Geneva, who crosses paths with a retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who's a bit of an eavesdropper. Initially repelled, she becomes intrigued by this man, as do we... Kieslowski's sublime adieu.
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Four Weddings begins with an onslaught of fucks. It's the first signal that this rom-com will break from tradition, despite the ritualized structural conceit described in the title. The witty screenplay is by Richard Curtis — it's still his best.
The Lion King
With its beautifully drawn East African setting, its humour, pathos, and engaging characters, as well as its stirring songs, The Lion King stands as the pinnacle of traditional Disney family entertainment.
Image: © Disney, 1994
To Die For
Buck Henry (The Graduate) wrote this acidic black comedy about a ruthless weather girl on the make (Nicole Kidman in her breakout role). A young Joaquin Phoenix is the dim teen she seduces on her way to achieving stardom.
Casino
Revisiting the wise guy milieu for the third (but not the final) time, Scorsese tells the story of Ace Rothstein and Nicky Santoro (Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci), two New York hoodlums who become major players in the history of Las Vegas.
Andrea Superstein Sings Burt Bacharach + Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery Film Screening
Local hero and Anglophile Mike Myers scored a massive comedy hit with this spot-on spoof of James Bond and his many imitators. Before the yucks, Andrea Superstein treats us to a set of timeless Burt Bacharach tunes.