Another Version of Events: Paris Is Burning at FACT, Liverpool

“I remember my dad said, ‘You have three strikes against you in this world. Every black man has two: that he is black and he is a male. But you are black and you are gay and you are a male…you are going to have a hard fucking time.’ ”

So begins Paris is Burning, Jennie Livingston’s astonishing dive into New York’s queer ballroom scene during the mid-to-late 1980s. A testament to the transformative power of performance and the importance of community, this street-level documentary tracks a subculture of Black and Latino, gay and transgender New Yorkers, as it deftly weaves individual stories into a broader study of race, class, gender and sexuality.

At once poignant, raucous and wickedly funny, the film is both an essential snapshot of its time and place and one of the truly great pieces of New York cinema. Showing at FACT as part of Liverpool Biennial’s excellent film season entitled Another Version of Events, the screening will be accompanied by a special live performance.

…both an essential snapshot of its time and place and one of the truly great pieces of New York cinema.

Another Version of Events is the official Liverpool Biennial 2016 film programme. Screening at FACT every Thursday throughout the Biennial at 6:30pm, the carefully curated selection of films include examples of sci-fi, mockumentary, pseudo-documentary, mockbuster and ethnofiction.