The people I met from the ball world 1) were great performers 2) had a lot to say, both about their own lives and about America and the world at large 3) Aside from being beautiful, and raucous, and a repository of great dance moves, the ball world also offered a profound look at an incredible number of issues I cared about. Like, how we live with and create our gender; how race and racism affect our lives; how class and the access to (or lack of access to) opportunity creates or inhibits our growth; how both gender identity and sexual orientation are fluid, and how homophobia, with all of its horrors, also forces people to create supportive communities and social worlds. It felt like there was so much going on the ball world that touched on everything I thought about and cared about.”
— Director Jennie Livingston discussing her landmark documentary Paris Is Burning in an interview with Miramax ahead of the film screening at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival 24 years after it won the Grand Jury Prize
Clark35
Yes, and she didn’t realize that they were making fun of rich people during the one filmed scene in the documentary where she thought it was all about how rich people put down poor minorities in NYC. This woman also got lots of fame, and money and the people she filmed got nothing.
Cam
She HAD to make it. But apparently she also HAD to fight against any of the subjects of the film being paid for it. đ
RLS
I always read the commentary that the people “got nothing” and it is always unfair. She’s a filmmaker who worked hard to create a seminal piece of work. Documentary subjects are just that: subjects. They’re not entitled to anything more than the exposure the project gets them, and that is enough to do a lot. Willi Ninja certainly got more than nothing, he used that platform and took his career into true legend status, traveled the world with his skills and made a significant amount of money.