Paris Is Burning

“Touch this skin, darling, touch this skin honey, touch all of this skin! Okay? You just can't take it! You're just an overgrown orangutan!” - Venus Xtravaganza

Especially moving, difficult, and fulfilling to watch this film in June 2025.

It requires a lot of courage to want to make a movie or a documentary about a ball.

Quite an interesting depiction of the world of New York balls circa 1987, "Paris Is Burning" features an array of talking heads that bring up significant points. Nevertheless, this ensemble logic keeps it from having a protagonist, a main subject to focus on, follow and delve into. Arguably, the protagonist is actually the scene itself, and by extension, the community as a whole, but even then, its arc regarding its evolution over time is rather hastily done, and therefore lacks effectiveness.

A film you simply must see.

Enlightening and revolutionary.

Essential viewing. You’re not a certified queer until you’ve seen this.

A great collection of eccentric New Yorkers. This is a snapshot of a subculture which is heart-warming and heart-breaking.

In a short runtime, Paris Is Burning gets across a lot without ever feeling wasteful and becomes a very interesting documentary on the 80's NYC ballroom scene and touches on moving themes of sexuality, race, class, and life itself.

Mandatory viewing for everyone. This demonstrates why the gay rights movement happened, and why no gay or trans person is a victim. The amount of harassment gay and trans people go through makes them the strongest people on the planet, especially at the time this documentary was shot. For this generation to victimize fearless fighters, as that is the underlying current of what most of these socio-political movements have transformed into, is counterproductive to what the women and men and them fought so hard to be: FREE. Not victims of an oppressive new computerized social culture which forces them to properly act and speak like their chosen identity. QUEER happened because people wanted to free their authentic selves, not specify their pronoun or sexual preference. This age is dominated by what the computer and phone did to Queer culture; trying to categorize and pigeonhole identity. No Queer person would try to control the perception Other had of them back in the day! Bold fashion and being themselves in the face of a conservative society made them stars in their own communities. Listen, we want progress, but not at the sake of our collective freedom. Trying to control narratives and perceptions of Other is not gonna happen. Give it up. Enjoy your own category and being different and Other taking any notice of you at all. And for Goddesses' sake, enjoy this film!