Jennie Livingston
Directing
Biography
Jennie Livingston is a groundbreaking filmmaker, known for her lively storytelling, nuanced character portraits, and thoughtful explorations of identity, class, race, death, sex, and gender. She works in both fiction and nonfiction. Jennie's taught at Yale, Connecticut College, and Brooklyn College, lectured widely, written for national magazines, and appeared as a subject or speaker in a number of documentaries and cultural programs. Livingston has been a recipient of grants and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the German Academic Exchange, the MacDowell Colony, The Newhouse Foundation, the Rosenthal Family Foundation, The Getty Center, and others. Livingston was born in Texas, raised in Los Angeles, educated at Yale, and lives in New York City.
Known For
A dance musical that explores the juxtaposition of several segments of 1980s life and society in New York: the ball culture world, the rise of the luxury Trump-era universe and the downtown social and literary scene.
POSE
Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City's African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, PARIS IS BURNING offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion "houses," from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women — including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza.
Paris Is Burning
A chronological look at films by, for, or about gays and lesbians in the United States, from 1947 to 2005, Kenneth Anger's "Fireworks" to "Brokeback Mountain". Talking heads, anchored by critic and scholar B. Ruby Rich, are interspersed with an advancing timeline and with clips from two dozen films. The narrative groups the pictures around various firsts, movements, and triumphs: experimental films, indie films, sex on screen, outlaw culture and bad guys, lesbian lovers, films about AIDS and dying, emergence of romantic comedy, transgender films, films about diversity and various cultures, documentaries and then mainstream Hollywood drama. What might come next?
Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema
A documentary following the unsolved murder of Venus Xtravaganza, star of the legendary film "Paris Is Burning," as Venus' two families — biological and ballroom — come together to seek answers and celebrate her legacy.
I'm Your Venus
Is Alixe and Gwen's sexual disagreement the cause of their problems, or are their problems the cause of their sexual disagreement? And how should an artist nurture her vision: by seeking adventures on the edge or by staying home and writing poems? What's more real, our fantasies, or what we actually do? In Who's the Top? there are no right answers, just musical numbers.
Who's the Top?
Uplifting interviews with comedians Reno and Diana Massa, the creators of HotHead Paisan, about their defiant encounters with homophobia.
Hotheads
From Go Fish to Paris is Burning to The Watermelon Woman, this festival favorite goes behind the scenes to reveal seven successful lesbian directors. These talented movie-makers enlighten and entertain as they explore their sexual identity, growing up gay, inspirations and techniques, Hollywood vs. Indie, and of course, love and sex, onscreen and off. The conversations are intimate, the topics unlimited, and the clips from their work enthralling! Featuring Cheryl Dunye, Rose Troche, Jennie Livingston, Monika Treut, Maria Maggenti, Su Friedrich and Heather MacDonald.
Lavender Limelight
Early morning dog walkers relate a tragic story.
Through the Ice
A first-person memoir, a family saga, and an essay about how American culture views loss and impermanence.