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Witness History: Paris is Burning

Documentaries

15/03/2021 GMT

Paris is Burning

BBC World Service - Witness History, Paris is Burning

The groundbreaking film about drag queens and LGBTQ+ people in New York

The film Paris is Burning was released in 1991. It offered a glimpse into the black and LatinX LGBTQ+ communities involved in the ballroom and drag scene in New York City.

The documentary Paris is Burning was released in 1991 The award winning film showed a glimpse of the thriving underground ballroom and drag scene in New York City in the 1980s and the black and LatinX LGBTQ+ communities at the heart of it. The United States in the 1980s was a difficult place to be different, with homophobia and racism running rife. Pairs is Burning was filmmaker Jennie Livingston’s first documentary and she has been telling Bethan Head about the lengthy process of bringing the film to the screen.

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