Paris is Burning
Director：Jennie Livingston
Screenwriter：None
Cast：Dorian Corey, Pepper Labeija, Venus Xtravaganza
Producer：Jennie Livingston
Cinematographer：Paul Gibson
Running Time：76min
Region：United States
Year：1990
Language：English
Production Company：Academy Entertainment Off White Productions
SYNOPSIS
This documentary focuses on drag queens living in New York City and their “house” culture, which provides a sense of community and support for the flamboyant and often socially shunned performers. Groups from each house compete in elaborate balls that take cues from the world of fashion. Also touching on issues of racism and poverty, the film features interviews with a number of renowned drag queens, including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija and Dorian Corey.
Director Biography
Livingston was born in Dallas, Texas and grew up in Los Angeles, where her family moved when she was two years old. She is the youngest of three siblings, with two older brothers. Livingston attended Beverly Hills High School and graduated from Yale University in 1983, where she studied photography, drawing, and painting with a minor in English Literature. One of her teachers at Yale was the photographer Tod Papageorge. Livingston took a summer filmmaking class at New York University in 1984. She is the niece of the late film director Alan J. Pakula and worked in the art department on his 1987 film Orphans; he encouraged her to make her first film. She is an out lesbian and lives in Brooklyn. She is Jewish.
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