RESTORED DIGITAL PRESENTATION!

Chronicling the world of fierce performance and competition at Harlem drag balls during the 1980s, Jennie Livingston's Paris is Burning is a groundbreaking exploration of race, class, gender, and sexuality. The documentary follows the lives of Dorian Corey, Will Ninja, Sol, Freddie and Kim Pedavis, Octavia St. Laurent, Angie and Venus Xtravaganza, and Pepper LaBeija as they perform and tell their respective stories. Candid interviews with each of the performers are interspersed with images of extravagant costumes, lavishly decorated sets, elaborate voguing, and impassioned offstage rivalries and onstage face-offs. Beyond the spectacle and pageantry of the drag balls, Paris is Burning provides an intimate look into the very real lives of a community struggling to survive — queer and trans people of colour dealing with loss and pain, but always thinking of their hopes and dreams for the future.

Join us for a post-screening performance by the Toronto Kiki Ballroom Alliance, led by Toronto vogue performer Twysted Miyake-Mugler, on June 17 at 7:15pm!