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.

In this gritty but celebratory documentary produced and directed by Lesbian filmmaker Jennie Livingston, it is not the fashions but the characters that stay with the viewer.

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.