MOVIE · 1990

Paris Is Burning

Documentary78 min

In 1980s New York, the Harlem drag-ball scene comes into focus through the people who built it: rival houses, late-night competitions, and the style and slang that spread far beyond the ballroom. Pepper LaBeija, one of the film’s central house mothers, and Willi Ninja, whose precise voguing helped define the form, speak about performance, status, and chosen family. Between trophy-chasing walks and candid interviews, the documentary tracks how Black and Latinx drag queens, gay men, and trans women made space for themselves while facing homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty.