Drag Documentary, 'Paris Is Burning' Shows At Green Light Cinema

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — If you'd like to catch a film to celebrate Pride Month Friday or Saturday night, the 1990 documentary "Paris Is Burning," is showing at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. both nights at Green Light Cinema in St. Petersburg.

It tells the story of the many Black drag queens in New York City during the 1980s who competed with rival drag ballroom "houses." Gigi LaBeija, founder of the House of Labeija in 1977, was a ballroom drag queen known for taking drag queens of color under her wing, and providing safety and guidance for them to compete at ballrooms.

The documentary shows the difficult lives they had with little protection from transphobia, homophobia or racism. Many of the queens in the documentary died of AIDS, drug overdoses or were killed, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Only three queens out of the many subjects featured in the documentary are still alive. Junior Labeija, 63, whose birth name is James Goode Jr., is one of the three surviving men. He was mothered by GiGi LaBeija, when he left his house at 15 after his family started beating him for being gay.

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, he said in reference to the ballroom and their LGBTQ underworld, “It was the space to be who you need to be. That’s what ballroom is. You come to get your sh**off, get undressed and go back to normal.”

He said in order to get into the warehouse they used as the place to host their balls, they had to scale a wall to get inside.

If you'd like tickets to see the documentary at Green Light Cinema June 11 or June 12, visit its website.

Green Light will have its doors closed from Sunday, June 13 through Thursday, June 17, for remodeling. The cinema is expanding its 50 seats to 80 seats, and adding a row of elevation in the back.