Paris is burning

Title:

Paris is burning

Author:

Livingston, Jennie.

ISBN:

9780788861499

Edition:

Full screen.

Publication Information:

Burbank, Calif. : Miramax Home Entertainment, [2005]

Physical Description:

1 videodisc (approximately 76 min.) : sound, color ; 4 3/4 in.

General Note:

Originally released in 1991.

Special features: feature commentary by Jennie Livingston, director/producer; Willie Ninja, Mother, House of Ninja; Freddie Pendavis, House of Pendavis; Jonathan Oppenheim, editor; never-before-seen outtakes.

Abstract:

A vibrant study of how an out-group affirms and supports itself, this widely hailed film looks at Harlem's competitive drag-queen balls. In these fashion face-offs, urban gay men of color--many poor and homeless--celebrate their identity.

Audience:

MPAA rating: R; for language and sexuality.

Language Note:

In English with optional Spanish subtitles.

Subject Term:

Transvestites -- New York (State)

Gays -- New York (State)

Fashion shows -- New York (State)

Genre:

Added Author:

Added Corporate Author:

Miramax Home Entertainment (Firm)

Performer/Artist:

Cinematographer, Paul Gibson ; editor, Jonathan Oppenheim.

Dorian Corey, Pepper Labeija, Venus Xtravaganza, Octavia St. Laurent, Willi Ninja.

Document ID:

SD_ILS:1599606

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Library	Collection	Collection	Call Number	Status
Searching... Betty Rodriguez Library (Fresno Co.)	Searching... Unknown	DVD Area	306.77 PAR	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Fresno Central Library (Fresno Co.)	Searching... Unknown	DVD Area	306.77 PAR	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Poignant, well-received documentary that reveals the community of New York's minority drag queens, gay black and Latino men who cross dress as women and invent the dance style of "voguing," imitating the fashion poses on the covers of the magazine Vogue. As director Jennie Livingston discovers, her subjects band together into family-like "houses" for protection, taking the same last names and competing in drag balls where awards are given out for authenticity or "realness," as well as other categories like "evening wear" and "executive wear." Both an embracing and a refutation of the world of high fashion, the balls become the social locus of this underclass, underground society of outcasts defiantly refusing to be ignored by a world that scorns them. Paris Is Burning (1991) was one of several critically acclaimed documentaries of the late 1980s and early 1990s excluded from Academy Award nominations, eventually leading to a reappraisal of the Academy's stodgy selection process. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi