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pics: 'Paris is Burning' screening & Houses United Ball in Prospect Park

photos by David Andrako;words by Sadaaf Mamoon

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn
Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn
Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Celebrate Brooklyn! at Prospect Park was celebrating more than just a borough last weekend (6/26), with a free screening of Paris Is Burning. The 1990 documentary chronicling Harlem’s thriving late-century ball culture via the queer and trans people of color community (QTPOC) was specially scheduled in honor of Pride Week 2015, and made all the more relevant by Friday morning’s Supreme Court ruling granting marriage equality nationwide.

The event almost didn’t happen though, with an early contention between Celebrate Brooklyn promoters and the community for not representing any QTPOC on the lineup. In response to the controversy, Friday night’s screening featured an introduction by director Jennie Livingston and documentary subjects Junior LaBeija and Dr. Sol Williams Pendavis. Other cast members Grandfather Hector Xtravaganza and Jose Disla Xtravaganza presented The Houses United Ball: Celebrating Brooklyn, a rowdy, gleeful dance-off of sorts, featuring representatives from historic underground ballroom Houses of LaBeija, Ninja, Mizrahi, Khan, Infinity, Milan, Princess and Xtravaganza, all of which are still alive and well. Vijuan Allure DJ’d to palpable excitement, with event-goers (only slightly more colorful than your average Celebrate Brooklyn crowd) barely able to sit still to watch when the film came along. Pictures from the night are in this post and continue below…

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn

Paris is Burning - Celebrate Brooklyn