The vibrancy, the drama, and the shade of it all is the beauty of Brazil’s modern day Ballroom scene, depicted through stagings and recreations of these ballroom houses on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro and historical characters and events relevant in the formation of ballroom as an artform.
Queer families are formed, through the art of voguing and waacking, or freedom and expression. The challenges faced within a dance competition, holds a mirror up to the challenges faced in the everyday for these young queer people and highlights race and class tensions within the scene. This is another world, a transgressive parallel universe, and a space made by and for the LGBTQ+ youth of Rio de Janeiro, which you are invited into. “50 years after its inception in New York. Rio is burning!”
dir. Juru and Vitã | 2024 | Brazil | 92’
CW: discussion of murder