Kiki

Apr 3, 2016

1h 34m

★ 5.7

Live your truth

Overview

25 years after Paris is Burning, we dive back into the fierce world of voguing battles in the Kiki scene of New York City, where competition between Houses demands leadership, painstaking practice, and performances on point. A film collaboration between Kiki gatekeeper, Twiggy Pucci Garçon, and Swedish filmmaker Sara Jordenö, we’re granted exclusive access into this high stakes world, where tough competitions act as a gateway into the daily lives of LGBTQ youth of color in NYC. The new generation of ballroom youth use the motto, “Not About us Without Us”. Twiggy and Sara’s insider-outsider approach to their stories breathes fresh life into the representation of a marginalized community who demand visibility and real political power.

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

Story AB

Hard Working Movies

SVT

Film i Väst

Svenska Filminstitutet

Film i Västerbotten

The Swedish Arts Grants Committee

New York State Council on the Arts

Kiki Trailers

Cast

Self

Twiggy Pucci Garçon

Self

Gia Marie Love

Self

Loretta Coombs

Self

Divo Pink Lady

Self

Afrika Juicy Couture

Self

Aisha Diori

Self

Bryson Rose

Self (Archive Footage)

Willi Ninja

Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City's African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, PARIS IS BURNING offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion "houses," from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women — including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza.

4.8

Kelet

Jan 29, 2020

Kelet is a twentysomething black trans woman, whose greatest dream is to be on the cover of Vogue magazine. For the Finnish-born and Manchester-raised Kelet, such models as Naomi Campbell and Iman served as role models giving her strength – and during the darkest times, kept her alive. After coming out, then 19-year-old Kelet was cut off from her family and she moved back to Finland on her own.

7.5

10s Across Viçosa - Um documentário sobre a cena ballroom na Zona da Mata Mineira

Dec 4, 2025

A documentary exploring the vibrant ballroom scene in Viçosa, Minas Gerais. Through the lives of local performers, it highlights how queer, trans, and non-binary communities create spaces of self-expression, creativity, and resilience. The film captures the energy of balls, the art of voguing, and the deep sense of community, while also examining the challenges participants face in a society that often marginalizes them. By documenting this unique subculture, the film celebrates LGBTQ+ identity, pride, and the transformative power of performance in shaping belonging and visibility.

8.0

Legendary

Aug 27, 2020

An inside look into the effort to preserve Philadelphia's ballroom scene, a black LGBTQ safe-space that has endured for 30 years.

9.0

Being BeBe

Jun 25, 2021

The intimate journey and unpublished backstory of BeBe Zahara Benet – a charismatic drag performer originally from Cameroon, and the very first winner of the culture-changing phenomenon, RuPaul’s Drag Race. With over a decade of unprecedented access, we observe BeBe’s struggles with celebrity, authenticity, success, and failure.

1.0

Poly-Love

Jan 21, 2016

A documentary that approaches polyamory from the intimate point of view of an Afro-American family who decided to live an authentic life without denying the option of diversity in their love and family.

0.0

Indestructible

Dec 2, 2022

He is a sensitive boy who represses his true personality. After experiencing traumatic experiences, our protagonist begins to open to the world on a journey that made him the person who is. This is not the complete story, but shows a trajectory of overcoming and change.

0.0

Black Nations/Queer Nations?

Jan 1, 1995

This is an experimental documentary chronicling the March 1995 groundbreaking conference on lesbian and gay sexualities in the African diaspora. The conference brought together an array of dynamic scholars, activists and cultural workers including Essex Hemphill, Kobena Mercer, Barbara Smith, Urvashi Vaid and Jacqui Alexander to interrogate the economic, political and social situations of diasporic lesbians, gay men, bisexual and transgendered peoples. The video brings together the highlights of the conference and draws connections between popular culture and contemporary black gay media production. The participants discuss various topics: Black and queer identity, the shortcomings of Black nationalism, and homophobia in Black communities. Drawing upon works such as Isaac Julien's "The Attendant" and Jocelyn Taylor's "Bodily Functions", this documentary illuminates the importance of this historic conference for Black lesbians and gays.

8.0

Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution

Dec 16, 2023

From the sweaty basement bars of 70s New York to the glittering peak of the global charts, how disco conquered the world - its origins, its triumphs, its fall and its legacy.

5.4

Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin

Jan 20, 2003

Documentary on Bayard Rustin, best-remembered as the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington.

0.0

Lua

Mar 22, 2024

Joseph Wilson meets the dance teacher fighting transphobic violence through voguing in Rio’s favelas.

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0.0

Rise Up and Shout!

Jul 21, 2007

Rise Up And Shout! tells the story of four generations of creative gay voices in Los Angeles who unite to create a theatrical showcase for gay youth on September 9, 2006. In the process, a unique community is created made up of young and old, black and white, shy and loud -- including an 83 year-old priest and an 18 year old former prostitute and poet.

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0.0

This is: Ballroom

Invalid Date

No overview available.

0.0

QUIMERA

Nov 24, 2022

No overview available.

0.0

House of Xmas

Dec 22, 2017

In this film House Of Xmas produced by BRAVÒ NYC, directed by Aurélien Heilbronn and envisioned by Dazed we hit the streets of NYC with the city’s ball culture babes for an intimate insight into how they celebrate this time of year with the close friends that they consider family.

5.0

Maurice Hines: Bring Them Back

Nov 10, 2019

Maurice Hines -- actor, director, singer, and choreographer -- navigates the complications of show business while grieving the loss of his more famous, often estranged younger brother, tap dance legend Gregory Hines.

5.8

Black Is… Black Ain’t

Oct 11, 1995

African-American documentary filmmaker Marlon Riggs was working on this final film as he died from AIDS-related complications in 1994; he addresses the camera from his hospital bed in several scenes. The film directly addresses sexism and homophobia within the black community, with snippets of misogynistic and anti-gay slurs from popular hip-hop songs juxtaposed with interviews with African-American intellectuals and political theorists, including Cornel West, bell hooks and Angela Davis.