Paris Is Burning

It is strong, sardonically funny, sometimes shattering stuff.

Half sad, half exuberant.

The earnestness of the competition is what holds this film together.

There is a lot of common sense and natural wit behind the role-playing. Yet there is also a terrible sadness in the testimony.

[The film intercuts] ball scenes with interviews with the participants in less hectic, more reflective moments. It is those personal, humanizing moments, much more than the hectic, eye-catching hubbub of performance, that truly linger in the mind.

If the wit, glamour and mind-boggling outfits of Paris Is Burning are disarming, not far beneath the film's surface is an immensely moving quality.

Jennie Livingston's seminal documentary film shines a spotlight on New York City's ball culture, a place where African-American and Latino LGBTQ people could live out their high-glamour fantasies.

Paris is Burning is still an important film 30 years after its release - a snapshot of a specific time and place that humanizes its subjects and allows those of us in a place of privilege to understand them better.

A scintillating example of how art can serve life without compromising its objective of adding meaning to our journey.

Not since Andy Warhol's The Chelsea Girls have I been so taken and fascinated by such a gallery of real-life, stunningly etched characters.