New York City, 1980. In Harlem’s African American and Latinx drag-ball scene, rival houses compete in fierce contests for trophies. Meanwhile, legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women—including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, and Venus Xtravaganza—reveal the rules and traditions of the scene.

Full of iconic quotes that have shaped the queer lexicon, Jennie Livingston’s seminal documentary captures the ballroom scene of 1980s New York in all its vivacious joy and heartbreaking precarity. Carved out of sequins and solidarity, its safe havens are where fantasies become gloriously real.