Paris Is Burning

Paris Is Burning (1991) is Jennie Livingston's landmark documentary, and you can watch it online on iFILM. The camera drops you into New York's late-1980s ball scene, where Black and Latinx drag performers compete for trophies under the lights, judged on realness, fashion and nerve.

Livingston shot the footage across seven years. What she assembled is a portrait of rival "houses" — chosen families where elder mothers shelter younger members cast out by their own. This is where voguing took shape as a dance and where the phrase "throwing shade" comes from. On screen are scene legends: Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, the great voguer Willi Ninja, and young Venus Xtravaganza, whose story ends in heartbreak.

By day these performers face racism, homophobia, poverty and AIDS. By night the ballroom turns them into stars, queens and cover models. The film became the defining record of a subculture that would later feed pop music, fashion and the slang of a whole generation. Tough, tender and at moments devastating, it's essential for anyone tracing the roots of modern queer culture. Stream Paris Is Burning (1991) online on iFILM.