MQFF’s Pride Program opens with a special event to celebrate the legacy of Venus Xtravaganza, the global icon who rose to fame in the 1991 documentary Paris is Burning. Venus was tragically murdered before the Paris is Burning was released, and now, decades later, I’m Your Venus picks up a trail gone cold as her two families—biological and ballroom—come together to honour her legacy. This moving documentary comes at time in USA history where transgender rights are digressing, invoking the decades old USA protest cry “Voguing is not a crime! Murder is”. Here Venus’s legacy reminds us that Voguing is an act of resistance as well as an artform. Gather to pay tribute to Venus with an in-conversation with community and short film screening to be announced soon! 

 “I want a car. I want to be with the man I love . . . I want a nice home away from New York I want to get married in church in white . . . I want to be a professional model behind cameras. I want this. This is what I want and I’m going to go for it.” — Venus Xtravaganza, from Paris Is Burning  

Viewer Advice: contains discussions of transphobic violence, homophobic violence and family violence. 

Victorian Premiere 

I’M YOUR VENUS (2024) 

Director: Kimberly Reed 

Country: USA 

Language: English 

Community : Queer, Transgender