Ball gives life.
Explosive energy, fierce fashion, and a strict, family focused culture all hallmarks of the ballroom social scene.
Featuring the lives of Chi Chi Mizrahi, Christopher Waldorf, Divo Pink Lady, Gia Marie Love, Izana “Zariya” Vidal , Kenneth “Symba McQueen” Soler-Rios and co-written by Twiggy Pucci Garçon, KIKI is a joyous and energetic look at the next generation of unwavering LGBTQ self advocacy in the face of a hostile world. The artist’s description of the film is full of affirmations and vision statements, revealing the core idea underlying the documentary:
In this film collaboration between Kiki gatekeeper, Twiggy Pucci Garçon, and Swedish filmmaker Sara Jordenö, viewers are granted exclusive access into this high-stakes world, where fierce Ballroom competitions serve as a gateway into conversations surrounding Black- and Trans- Lives Matter movements. This new generation of Ballroom youth use the motto, “Not About Us Without Us,” and KIKI in kind has been made with extensive support and trust from the community, including an exhilarating score by renowned Ballroom and Voguing Producer Collective Qween Beat. Twiggy and Sara’s insider-outsider approach to their stories breathes fresh life into the representation of a marginalized community who demand visibility and real political power.
25 years after the debut of Paris is Burning, the controversial documentary sensation is starting to age. The references, music and fashion feel dated, and the persistent questions around storytelling, racism, and exploitation are just as relevant today as they were when the film aired.
KIKI brings a fresh update and perspective on how ball has changed. KIKI exists in a world where transgender rights have been pushed into the limelight by brave pioneers like Laverne Cox and Janet Mock. While Paris is Burning valorized passing, most of the characters in KIKI believe they exist on a transgender continuum. Some openly identify as trans, but question if the label isn’t just another restriction. The idea of “realness” being divided into “female” and “male” categories is interrogated by one character, who asks why the LGBTQ ball scene has to follow the same binaries as the rest of the heterosexual world.
KIKI also features refreshingly frank conversations about policy over the course of the film. While all of the delicious aspects of ballroom culture are still in full effect – music! costumes! competition! – the narrative frequently swings toward the activism of the participants outside of the scene. The houses look at violence, police brutality, medical policy and housing policy and do their best to advocate for more rights and protections under the law. The director’s notes reveal some of urgency around their activism:
Kiki scene-members range in age from young teens to 20’s, and many have been thrown out of their homes by their families or otherwise find themselves on the streets. As LGBTQ people-of-color, they constitute a minority within a minority. An alarming 50% of these young people are HIV positive. The Kiki scene was created within the LGBTQ youth-of- color community as a peer-led group offering alternative family systems (“houses”), HIV awareness teaching and testing, and performances geared towards self-agency. The scene has evolved into an important (and ever-growing) organization with governing rules, leaders and teams, now numbering hundreds of members in New York and across the U.S and Canada. Run by LGBTQ youth for LGBTQ youth, it draws strategies from the Civil Rights, Gay Rights and Black Power movements.
Conversations about race, masculinity, femininity, performance all feature prominently throughout the doc. One illuminating conversation featured Gia and another activist debating the role of sex work in the LGBTQ communities. Symba soberly recounts the realities of living with HIV and the horrible day he found out he was positive. Twiggy Pucci Garçon heads to the White House to advocate for LGBTQ rights, but finds out he was evicted from his home while traveling. But not all the moments of discussion are heavy. Chi Chi Mizrahi breaks down the various types of experiences on the transgender experience, but explains that none of those labels fit him: “I’m just a boy that likes to play in women’s clothes!” He says, before analyzing a pair of shoes for both their masculine and feminine qualities.
KIKI does not have a clear narrative arc but the confusion doesn’t distract from the core purpose of the film. One of the most powerful devices used in the film is the long, silent camera shots that focus deeply on each subject. The camera lingers, forcing the viewer to confront the subject’s stoic gaze. Each shot feels a beat too long, but that is the point – it’s a quiet exhortation of the viewer to look, really look, at what is in front of them.
For all the pageantry and opulence of ball culture, all anyone really wants is to be seen for who they are.
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