LGBT Akron Arts Fest: Kiki

Director: Sara Jordenö. USA/Sweden 2016. 96 mins. 

Twenty-five years after Jenny Livingston’s seminal documentary Paris Is Burning, which shone a light on ’80s Harlem’s ballroom scene, this explosive and uplifting new documentary reveals one of the subculture’s contemporary descendants: the Kiki scene. Part activist movement, part artistic milieu, the Kiki community is a site of radical self-expression for young queer people of colour in New York City, whose ballroom competitions and surrogate queer families provide both creative platforms and a source of succour for individuals facing multiple forms of marginalisation. Shot over four years, the film follows seven members of the community through the difficulties of illness, homelessness and everyday discrimination, as well as the joys of spectacle, camaraderie and personal affirmation. 

The film will be preceded by a short film in conjunction with Random Acts. 

The Bear Tooth is joining the celebration of 40 years of PrideFest in Anchorage! KIKI 25 years after Paris Is Burning introduced the art of voguing to the world, Kiki revisits New York City’s thriving underground ballroom scene. It’s a larger-than-life world in which LGBTQ youths of color are empowered by staging elaborate dance competitions that showcase their dynamic choreography, fabulous costumes, and fierce attitude. It’s also a safe haven for struggling, at-risk teens who find acceptance, support, and friendship within the Kiki community. Granted intimate access to the scene, filmmaker Sara Jordenö introduces viewers to some of Kiki culture’s most prominent personalities, going beyond the glamour of the balls to highlight the serious challenges facing queer black and Latino young people. Bringing together heartrending personal stories with incredible displays of creative expression.

25 years after Paris Is Burning introduced the art of voguing to the world, Kiki revisits New York City’s thriving underground ballroom scene. It’s a larger-than-life world in which LGBTQ youths of color are empowered by staging elaborate dance competitions that showcase their dynamic choreography, fabulous costumes, and fierce attitude. It’s also a safe haven for struggling, at-risk teens who find acceptance, support, and friendship within the Kiki community. Granted intimate access to the scene, filmmaker Sara Jordenö introduces viewers to some of Kiki culture’s most prominent personalities, going beyond the glamour of the balls to highlight the serious challenges facing queer black and Latino young people. Bringing together heartrending personal stories with incredible displays of creative expression, Kiki is “exhilarating…an indelible, must-see ode to gay New York” (Manohla Dargis, The New York Times).

In New York City, LGBTQ youth-of-color gather out on the Christopher Street Pier, practicing a performance-based artform, Ballroom, which was made famous in the early 1990s by Madonna’s music video “Vogue” and the documentary “Paris Is Burning.” Twenty-five years after these cultural touchstones, a new and very different generation of LGBTQ youth have formed an artistic activist subculture, named the Kiki Scene.

Director: Sara Jordenö. USA/Sweden 2016. 96 mins. 

Twenty-five years after Jenny Livingston’s seminal documentary Paris Is Burning, which shone a light on ’80s Harlem’s ballroom scene, this explosive and uplifting new documentary reveals one of the subculture’s contemporary descendants: the Kiki scene. Part activist movement, part artistic milieu, the Kiki community is a site of radical self-expression for young queer people of colour in New York City, whose ballroom competitions and surrogate queer families provide both creative platforms and a source of succour for individuals facing multiple forms of marginalisation. Shot over four years, the film follows seven members of the community through the difficulties of illness, homelessness and everyday discrimination, as well as the joys of spectacle, camaraderie and personal affirmation. 

The film will be preceded by a short film in conjunction with Random Acts. 

En Vogue

Dance icons Derrick Xtravaganza & Grandfather Hector Xtravaganza star in director Jenn Nkiru’s homage to one of NYC's last subcultures: voguing and ballroom.

To see KIKI in Montpellier during the Explicit Festival: http://festival-explicit.fr/wpexplicit/kiki/

To see KIKI in Amsterdam, Netherlands during IDFA: https://www.idfa.nl/industry/tags/project.aspx?id=43FF868E-1FED-40F0-AB17-A0A7367612CC&tab=-

To see KIKI in Amsterdam, Netherlands during IDFA: https://www.idfa.nl/industry/tags/project.aspx?id=43FF868E-1FED-40F0-AB17-A0A7367612CC&tab=-

More info here.

More info here.