This video contains footage from the runway of a voguing ball in the tradition of the Ballroom Scene, hosted by the House of Avant Garde, a Chicago-based space highlighting Black and queer performers.
The House of Avant Garde was a community of black LGBTQ+ individuals involved in Chicago’s ballroom scene. This video contains footage from two Balls hosted by the House: the Unity Ball in 1991 and the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre Ball in 1992, as well as commentary from members of the House of Avant Garde about the House itself and its importance in building community.
Independent videomaker, Julie Gustafson, invites a diverse group of teenage girls from New Orleans to make autobiographical videos exploring their developing sexuality and identity. An unprecedented long-term collaboration, DESIRE weaves together the girls’ video work, the stories of their changing lives, as well as the family, social and economic contexts in which their desires and choices are shaped.
The film begins in a primarily African-American housing project named ‘Desire’ and follows the lives of teenagers across diverse racial, political, class, and cultural backgrounds. Cassandra, Kimeca, Tracy, Peggy, and Tiffinie collaborate to tell their own stories of struggle and wrestling with questions of sexual identity, body image, family, future plans, and the pressures of finding one’s way in the world. As the film unfolds over the next five years, DESIRE honors each of the young women’s challenges and achievements, making clear that their ‘choices’ are linked not just to hopes and dreams, but to actual educational and economic opportunity– too often tinged with the racial disadvantage. In one remarkable scene, Kimeca, turns the camera on Gustafson, prompting her to share her own story of teenage pregnancy and the difficult decisions she made about abortion.
As John Anderson from Variety said: “Top-flight editing and a pace that never falters help “Desire” movingly tell the stories of its five subjects.” Justin Lane Briggs of The New School concurs: “The films the girls make themselves are shockingly honest and revealing…The result is a poignant and moving work, which stirs up a massive cloud of thoughts and issues without ever settling on one side of them… Cassandra and Tiffanie will haunt your dreams.
The documentary TRANSSEXUALS features a look at the transgender community in New York in 1971.
The story of Tom Palazzolo’s efforts to get his photographs included in the City 2000 exhibition, a show featuring images of Chicago from throughout that year. Palazzolo shoots events during the year 2000, such as Taste of Chicago, Maxwell Street, an AIDS bicycle ride, and other public festivals. Througout the tape we see his new photographs and some of his older ones.