1990 Paris Is Burning Classic Documentary About Gay & Latino gay men in NYC.

In the year 1990, American filmmaker Jennie Livingston decided to make a film about the black and latino gay men in New York City. Paris is Burning, is a classic gay documentary which looks at the lives of gay men of colour. Often in the media, the gay men of colour are ignored. However, in Paris is Burning, gay black and latino men are the stars of the film.

I love the fact the black and latino gay men in this movie are FIERCE!!!

The drag ball scenes are THE BEST PART of the movie! The drag balls are fantasy world for the drag queens they are able to live their fantasies of what they WISH their lives could be. It is a very interesting and important part of the film.

Paris is Burning teaches the audience the struggles that black and latino gay men endured New York City in the 1990s.

These men are BRAVE, they live their lives being openly gay in the early 1990s! Imagine, being black or latino and gay in the 1990! The world is a different place now, but there was even more homophobia back then.

This movie explores how gay and latino gay men negotiate between their race, gender, and sexual orientation. One person in the film says he has three strikes against him he’s black, male, and also gay. Paris is Burning also explores the problems black and latino drag queens experience such as racism, unemployment, poverty. Some of the men in the film turned to prostitution in order to pay their bills or even stealing.

Livingston did a great job with this movie, I wish there were more documentaries about gay men of colour in the public sphere.

The sad part about this movie is many of the men in Paris is Burning, are no longer with us they have passed. For instance, one person VENUS XTRAVANGANSA a Latino drag queen was murdered.

Paris is Burning was an important part of the emerging queer cinema and Livingston deserves credit for bring the stories of black and latino gay men to the masses.