Impulse San Diego Revisits Paris is Burning During Black History Month

PHOTO: Dazed

And the category is… Queer Film.

Always a good time with the girls, the gays and the theys in San Diego! On February 28th, Impulse San Diego hosted a free screening of Paris is Burning at Landmark Cinemas Hillcrest in honor of Black History Month.

Paris is Burning is an impactful independent film by Jennie Livingston that was released in 1990. The film highlights New York's drag scene in the 1980s and sheds light on the inner workings of balls, voguing, and queer houses.

Not only was the turnout for the event great, but the Impulse volunteers did a wonderful job creating a welcoming and engaging enviornment.

Attendees were gifted Impulse merch before heading into the theater where well known artist and community advocate Strawberry Corncakes gave a brief backstory on the history of the ballroom scene and community made queer families before starting the film.

During the intermission between act one and two, Strawberry Corncakes returned to the stage with three panelist who are active on the Ballroom scene here in San Diego. They took their time explaining how being a part of a house has impacted their lives, what their journey to Ballroom has been like, and finished off the segment with a few demonstrations in which the audience gleefully clapped and cheered them on.

Watching Paris is Burning with the queer community was absolutely iconic. Wonderful job to everyone at Impulse and we hope to see more events like this in the future!