Jennie Livingston

Directing

Jennie Livingston

Born 1962-02-24 · Dallas, Texas, USA

Jennie Livingston is a groundbreaking filmmaker, known for her lively storytelling, nuanced character portraits, and thoughtful explorations of identity, class, race, death, sex, and gender. She works in both fiction and nonfiction. Jennie's taught at Yale, Connecticut College, and Brooklyn College, lectured widely, written for national magazines, and appeared as a subject or speaker in a number of documentaries and cultural programs. Livingston has been a recipient of grants and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the German Academic Exchange, the MacDowell Colony, The Newhouse Foundation, the Rosenthal Family Foundation, The Getty Center, and others. Livingston was born in Texas, raised in Los Angeles, educated at Yale, and lives in New York City.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Paris Is Burning poster
8.0

Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City's African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, PARIS IS BURNING offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion "houses," from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women — including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza.

Paris Is Burning

1991

Paris Is Burning poster
8.0

Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City's African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, PARIS IS BURNING offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion "houses," from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women — including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza.

Paris Is Burning

1991

Hotheads poster
NR

Uplifting interviews with comedians Reno and Diana Massa, the creators of HotHead Paisan, about their defiant encounters with homophobia.

Hotheads

1993

Hotheads poster
NR

Uplifting interviews with comedians Reno and Diana Massa, the creators of HotHead Paisan, about their defiant encounters with homophobia.

Hotheads

1993

Who's the Top? poster
2.5

Is Alixe and Gwen's sexual disagreement the cause of their problems, or are their problems the cause of their sexual disagreement? And how should an artist nurture her vision: by seeking adventures on the edge or by staying home and writing poems? What's more real, our fantasies, or what we actually do? In Who's the Top? there are no right answers, just musical numbers.

Who's the Top?

2005

Who's the Top? poster
2.5

Is Alixe and Gwen's sexual disagreement the cause of their problems, or are their problems the cause of their sexual disagreement? And how should an artist nurture her vision: by seeking adventures on the edge or by staying home and writing poems? What's more real, our fantasies, or what we actually do? In Who's the Top? there are no right answers, just musical numbers.

Who's the Top?

2005

Earth Camp One poster
NR

A first-person memoir, a family saga, and an essay about how American culture views loss and impermanence.

Earth Camp One

Earth Camp One poster
NR

A first-person memoir, a family saga, and an essay about how American culture views loss and impermanence.

Earth Camp One

Through the Ice poster
9.0

Early morning dog walkers relate a tragic story.

Through the Ice

2006

Through the Ice poster
9.0

Early morning dog walkers relate a tragic story.

Through the Ice

2006