When I was a youngish gay man living in LA, I worked for a gay-friendly chain of video stores called Video West. Like the majority of video rental establishments today, it is long defunct. But for me, not the memories.
My uncle who managed the location in the San Fernando Valley had been keenly aware of my queerness. And he one day suggested that I take a look at the film Paris is Burning. It was shelved in a section of the store that was strictly of LGBTQ interest. My first thought: why would I have any interest in a documentary about fires in Paris? That was until I saw the cover of the VHS tape.
A gaggle of drag queens, house mothers and vogue performers peered back at me. The imagery and text spoke of the unique ballroom culture in New York City: events of expression that continue today where all gender identies compete for trophies simply by showing off their style, voguing on a runway and living their truth.
I watched the VHS tape one evening in 1998, the documentary itself having been released in 1990. It marked a cultural movement in LGBTQ+ history, a period between early gay pageants of the 1960s and our modern day RuPaul’s Drag Race.
And in it, we were introduced to Venus Xtravaganza.
Venus was an affable young talent, a transgender woman who shared directly to the camera (and filmmaker Jennie Livingston) her aspirations. And just as we got to know her and the other personalities highlighted in the film, we soon learn of Venus’s murder. A tragic footnote in an otherwise celebratory film peeling back the layers to reveal love of ballroom and love of others.
Flash forward to present day where every other week we can consume a new doc drama on Netflix.
I’m Your Venus is streaming here, a new directorial effort by Kimberly Reed. Released in 2024, it details all that we have come to love and know of ballroom culture, yet infuses it with a reopening of Venus’s cold case: who murdered her all these years ago?
Kimberly balances the film with footage of Venus’s brothers and their arduous task of reopening the cold case and their attempt to change her tombstone to read her chosen name.
We are introduced to the current leaders of the House of Xtravaganza, Venus’s adoptive family, who work with her biological one to achieve mutual goals. Gisele Xtravaganza alongside Venus’ brothers and key legal advocates work forward to find answers and further the prominence of Venus Xtravaganza’s memory.
The most heartfelt moments are when the Pellagatti family, Venus’ brothers, work with the Xtravaganza team to navigate this new space that we as a country are all learning: transgender expression and identity. And it is here director Reed delicately follows Venus’ family and her ballroom members over a series of scenes where attempts are made to reveal the identity of her killer and update her tombstone, and even establishing her Jersey City home as an historic landmark.
If you wish to immerse yourself in how someone’s short life could inspire generations to come together to support light, love and trans visibility, then give I’m Your Venus on Netflix a gander.
