A special screening of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning documentary PARIS IS BURNING. The event will feature an introduction by director Jennie Livingston and by Junior LaBeija and Dr. Sol Williams Pendavis, both of whom are featured in the film. Before the screening, fellow cast members Grandfather Hector Xtravaganza and Jose Disla Xtravaganza present The Houses United Ball: Celebrating Brooklyn, which will feature members of the Houses of LaBeija, Ninja, Mizrahi, Khan, Infinity, Milan, Princess and Xtravaganza. Vjuan Allure will DJ before and during the ball.
Paris Is Burning is an intimate and moving portrait of the Harlem drag balls of the 1980s, which were, and are still held between rival “houses” that served at once as intentional families, social groups and performance teams. The film illuminates a world of sustenance and joy that one group of New Yorkers created in the face of racism, poverty, transphobia and homophobia, and won wide acclaim beyond Sundance. It also spurred both controversy and progress, and 24 years later remains a unique and powerful film for all audiences that is still an organizing tool for gay and trans youth; a focus of scholarship on issues of race, class and gender; and a way for young ball participants and queer people to meet their ancestors.
Gates open at 6:30PM.
Park Slope, New York, NY