Celebrate Pride With ‘Paris Is Burning’ at Conwell Coffee & Cocktail Hall
June 1, 2026
It’s Pride Month, and LM Live is getting into the spirit. On Tuesday, June 9, we’re presenting a special Pride edition of New York on Film: a screening of the groundbreaking 1990 documentary “Paris Is Burning” (1990). Held at the Great Hall at Conwell Coffee & Cocktail Hall, the film will be followed by a conversation with director Jennie Livingston and Bill Rauch, director of the Tony-nominated Broadway production “CATS: The Jellicle Ball”, moderated by Michael Roberson, a leading advocate and cultural ambassador within the ballroom community.
“Paris Is Burning” is a seminal portrait of New York City’s ballroom scene in the 1980s. Through intimate access to its “houses,” performers and competitions, the film captures a world where Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ communities created spaces of self-expression, artistry, kinship and survival in the face of systemic exclusion. Its influence has shaped fashion, language, music and contemporary understandings of performance and identity.
After the film, director Jennie Livingston will be joined by theater director Bill Rauch for a talkback exploring the film’s cultural legacy alongside “CATS: The Jellicle Ball,” the recent Broadway reimagining of “Cats” that draws directly from ballroom aesthetics, movement vocabulary and community structures. The talkback will be led by Michael Roberson, author of “Ballroom: A History, A Movement, A Celebration” and cultural consultant for “PoseFX”.
Together, they will discuss the intersections between queer life and performance across both works: how ballroom culture operates as both art form and survival mechanism; how pageantry and transformation function as acts of identity-making; and how these traditions continue to evolve as they move from underground spaces into mainstream theatrical and cinematic expression. The conversation will also consider what it means to honor and translate lived cultural forms into new creative contexts while preserving their history and spirit.
The event runs from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 and include popcorn. Proceeds will be donated to the Ali Forney Center. Grab your spot here.
photo: courtesy Off White Productions/Miramax
