Category Is: 20 fascinating facts about the controversial yet vital ‘Paris Is Burning’
Paris Is Burning, the 1990 documentary directed by Jennie Livingston, was the first piece of mainstream media to shine a light on New York’s ballroom scene.
Focusing on a community of drag and trans performers set mostly in Harlem, Paris Is Burning is a vital work highlighting a marginalized community and showing their joys, triumphs, tragedies and chosen families.With “Pride Season” rapidly approaching, there’s no better time to revisit this electrifying document of queer cultural history. Here are 20 facts you may not have known about Paris Is Burning.Livingston struggled with funding, music licensing and editing the footage to an acceptable documentary length.In 1985, Livingston was enthralled by a group of guys voguing in Washington Square Park, who invited her to a ball.
She told Interview Magazine: “I had to do a documentary assignment for the summer class, so I took the little wind-up Bolex camera and went to this mini-ball, which is now called the Kiki Ball, at the Gay Community Center on 13th Street.
I was walking around thinking, ‘What gender are these people? What’s going on?’”She was an ACT UP activist, according to Criterion.“They were totally welcoming,” she told Interview Magazine.
