PARIS IS BURNING [Free Screening]

June 27, 2024

06:00 PM - 20:00 PM

We are thrilled to announce our first Movie With a View of 2024! As a celebration of Pride Month, a nod to Queer culture, and a little teaser of what’s coming this summer at BUMP, we are screening Paris is Burning (1990) at the Central Library June 27th. One night and one night only! We’re teaming up with the fine folks at Calgary Cinematheque, Calgary Public Library, and Calgary Pride to bring you this incredible film. This event is FREE!

Thanks to Calgary Public Library, there will be free popcorn (while supplies last!).

[FREE SCREENING]
Film: Paris is Burning (1990)
Date: Thursday, June 27
Location: Central Memorial Library
Address: 800 3 St SE, Calgary, AB
Time: 6:00 – 8:00 PM

About Paris Is Burning
Directed by Jennie Livingston

Chronicling the world of fierce performance and competition at Harlem drag balls during the 1980s, Jennie Livingston’s Paris is Burning is a groundbreaking exploration of race, class, gender, and sexuality. The documentary follows the lives of Dorian Corey, Will Ninja, Sol, Freddie and Kim Pedavis, Octavia St. Laurent, Angie and Venus Xtravaganza, and Pepper LaBeija as they perform and tell their respective stories. Candid interviews with each of the performers are interspersed with images of extravagant costumes, lavishly decorated sets, elaborate voguing, and impassioned offstage rivalries and onstage face-offs. Beyond the spectacle and pageantry of the drag balls, Paris is Burning provides an intimate look into the very real lives of a community struggling to survive — queer and trans people of colour dealing with loss and pain, but always thinking of their hopes and dreams for the future.