Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Paris is Burning, Jennie Livingston (1990, 78 minutes), Wednesday, December 13, 7:00 PM, Church of the Messiah (614 N. Bush Street, Santa Ana, CA 92701), Upper Room.

This now-classic documentary introduces the culture and activities of the New York City drag balls and their colorful, intensely competitive participants. This world is a prism reflecting the issues of racism, poverty, and AIDs, which was epidemic at the time.

"One emerges from this film not only with a new vocabulary and a fresh way of viewing the straight world but with a bracing object lesson in understanding what society 'role models' are all about" (Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader).