| How Do I Look | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by |
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| Produced by | Wolfgang Busch |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Wolfgang Busch |
| Edited by |
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| Music by | |
| Distributed by | Art From the Heart Films |
Release date |
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Running time | 80 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
How Do I Look is a 2006 American documentary directed by Wolfgang Busch. The film chronicles ball culture in Harlem and Philadelphia over a ten-year period.
Wolfgang Busch began interviewing subjects from the ball circuit in 1995 and continued filming for a decade. [1] How Do I Look preserves the ball culture, which began in the 1920s during the Harlem Renaissance, [2] and has since influenced mainstream artists and musicians, university students use the film for thesis, community based and not for profit organizations for education and outreach. The film follows several ball "legends" such as Willi Ninja, Kevin UltraOmni, Octavia St. Laurent, Pepper LaBeija, Jose Xtravaganza and Carmen Xtravaganza. Many of the subjects that are featured in How Do I Look were also featured in the 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning . [1]
How Do I Look also explores the prejudices members of the ball culture face due to their sexuality and race. [3] In a 2005 New York Times article, choreographer and voguing dance ambassador Willi Ninja commented about the mainstream society's readiness to embrace facets of ball culture while also rejecting the Ball "children" due to their sexuality:
... "If Madonna does voguing, it's O.K.," he added. "But when the ball children dance, even now, people say, 'Oh, it's a bunch of crazy queens throwing themselves on the floor.'" [1]
Other subjects speak about their attempts to forge careers in mainstream society and the effect that HIV and AIDS has had on ball culture as many of the subjects featured died of AIDS during or shortly after filming was complete.
How Do I Look? is hailed by members of the ball community, as a film that uplifts and prioritizes voices and experiences of community members. Many cast members express disdain and frustration over how Paris is Burning was produced, edited, and received by the public. Cast members, such as Carmen Xtravaganza and Marcel Christian Labeija, express frustration over how the cast was treated and portrayed in Paris is Burning, stating that they felt exploited and taken advantage of. [4]
As an independent film production, How Do I Look did not receive financing or distribution from the commercial film industry. The filmmakers arranged independent screenings and distribution world-wide. As a result, the film was not made widely available in commercial movie theatres or art-houses upon its release in June 2006 during Gay Pride month. The documentary's earnings have principally come from the sale of DVD's and, more recently, from online streaming sites. Over the years, however, How Do I Look has earned commercial success by word of mouth recommendations, its numerous appearances in film festivals, Black Prides and Universities, and from its good standing relationship with the Ball community.
Prior to its release in 2006, early screenings of How Do I Look garnered prominent media mentions in the Village Voice, the New York Post, and the New York Times. [5] [6] [7] Early on, How Do I Look was noted as an " artistic awareness program," alluding to the film's noble aspects to improve the Ballroom communities public reputation, providing opportunities and to empower members of the Ballroom community. The media attention also focused on the African-American and Latino gay subculture, who were known to go to lengths to keep their homosexuality "under wraps," a situation referred to as being on the down low. Often, the film's numerous screenings in academic settings were reported.
In the years following its release, How Do I Look has repeatedly been the subject of reports in the foreign press, including in the French public radio channel, France Inter. [8] The documentary was noted for its goal of empowering the LGBTQ Ballroom community, in particular following the AIDS pandemic, as was reported in Italian Vogue. [9] In Spanish Vanity Fair, the documentary was noted for having given new life to the vogue (dance) artistic impression, in particular by having added social, racial, and political conscience to the Ballroom community. [10]
Because How Do I Look was produced by and for the Ballroom community, it has been praised for having the coöperation of the Ball community in its production and for being faithful to its subject matter. The documentary has been named to several must-watch lists by the LGBTQ media. Them, the LGBTQ publication owned by Conde Naste, short-listed How Do I Look in its review of Ballroom history. [11] Out magazine listed How Do I Look amongst six films about the Ballrooms and voguing. [12] Mainstream culture publications, like W magazine, have also short-listed How Do I Look as a must-see "pride" film for LGBTQ audiences. [13]
The revealing interviews documented in How Do I Look have been lauded, in retrospect, for having been ahead of their time. In a review of "Transgender Sex Work and Society," which has been described as the definitive book about transgender sex work, a transgender star of How Do I Look was noted for her frank talk about transgender sex work. [14]
How Do I Look began filming in the wake of accusations that Jennie Livingston the filmmaker behind Paris Is Burning had exploited the Ballroom community after the release of that film. [15] The accused exploitation was the inspiration for How Do I Look, said co-assistant director Kevin Omni. [16] In the years since How Do I Look was released, the documentary has been mentioned by many as providing balance to and/or a follow-up or sequel of content of Paris Is Burning. Two of the assistant directors of the film are members of the Ballroom community, Kevin Omni and Luna Khan. In the media, Omni has also noted that the film aimed to create "possibilities" for members of the Ballroom community.
How Do I Look was filmed in New York City and Philadelphia. It premiered at the NewFest Film Festival in New York City in June 2006. The assistant directors were Kevin Burrus and Luna Khan.
How Do I Look was released on Region 1 DVD in the United States.
Vogue, or voguing, is a highly stylized, modern house dance originating in the late 1980s that evolved out of the Harlem ballroom scene of the 1960s. It is inspired by the poses of models in fashion magazines.
Paris Is Burning is a 1990 American documentary film directed by Jennie Livingston. Filmed in the mid-to-late 1980s, it chronicles the ball culture of New York City and the African-American, Latino, gay, and transgender communities involved in it.
William Roscoe Leake, better known as Willi Ninja, was an American dancer and choreographer known for his appearance in the documentary film Paris Is Burning.
Venus Pellagatti Xtravaganza was an American transgender woman. She came to national attention after her appearance in Jennie Livingston's 1990 documentary film Paris Is Burning, in which her life as a ballroom family member and performer forms one of the film's several story arcs.
Jennie Livingston is an American director best known for the 1990 documentary Paris is Burning.
The Ballroom scene is an African-American and Latino underground LGBTQ+ subculture. Its origins can be found in drag balls of the mid-19th century United States, such as those hosted by William Dorsey Swann, a formerly enslaved Black man in Washington D.C.. By the early 20th century, integrated drag balls were popular in cities such as New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. In the mid-20th century, as a response to racism in integrated drag spaces, the balls evolved into house ballroom, where Black and Latino attendees could "walk" in a variety of categories for trophies and cash prizes. Most participants in ballroom belong to groups known as "houses", where chosen families of friends form relationships and communities separate from their families of origin, from which they may be estranged. The influence of ballroom culture can be seen in dance, language, music, and popular culture, and the community still exists today.
Angie Xtravaganza was a co-founder and Mother of the House of Xtravaganza. A prominent transgender performer in New York City's gay ball culture, Xtravanganza featured in the acclaimed 1990 documentary film Paris is Burning.
Pepper LaBeija was an American drag queen and fashion designer. She was known as "the last remaining queen of the Harlem drag balls".
Wolfgang Busch is a multiple-award-winning documentary filmmaker, director, producer, cinematographer and editor. He was inducted into the Queens Business Hall of Fame for his company Art From The Heart Films for "Best LGBT Business" and into the LGBT Music Hall of Fame. For his social and artistic activism for the Black and Hispanic LGBT Ballroom community, aka Harlem Drag Ball community, Wolfgang received a Humanitarian award for his documentary How Do I Look, and the "Keep The Dream Alive" Martin Luther King Humanitarian award from the straight Black community.
Kevin Burrus, also known as Kevin UltraOmni is an American mentor, speaker, LGBTQ activist, and film producer who founded the ball culture House of Omni in 1979–which was renamed the House of UltraOmni in 1990–and has chapters across the country. He has become an authority on ball culture and has spoken in interviews about the movement. Omni is also the assistant director for the documentary How Do I Look, produced by Wolfgang Busch which aims to correct misperceptions about ball culture.
Danni Xtravaganza was a founding member of the House of Xtravaganza, the first primarily Latino house in the underground Harlem ball culture.
Founded in 1982, the House of Xtravaganza is one of the most publicly recognized "houses" to emerge from the New York City underground ballroom scene and among the longest continuously active. House of Xtravaganza members and the collective group is recognized for their cultural influence in the areas of dance, music, visual arts, nightlife, fashion, and community activism. House of Xtravaganza members continue to be featured in popular media and travel the world as ambassadors of voguing and the ballroom scene.
"Kiki", a term which started in ballroom culture, and was also for decades used in lesbian lingo to refer to a woman who was neither butch nor femme. The use of kiki as a gathering was later made more famous in the 2012 song "Let's Have a Kiki" by the Scissor Sisters, and has recently been brought back to slang by the LGBT community, is loosely defined as a gathering of friends for the purpose of gossiping and chit-chat.
Jose Gutierez Xtravaganza is a dancer, choreographer, and recording artist. He is one of the most widely recognized personalities to emerge from the NYC ballroom scene of the 1980s. He is best known for his work with Madonna.
Paris Dupree was an American drag performer and documentary participant featured in Jennie Livingston's 1990 documentary, Paris is Burning, which was named after Dupree's annual ball.
Kiki is an American-Swedish co-produced documentary film, released in 2016. It takes place in New York City, and focuses on the "drag and voguing scene [and] surveys the lives of LGBT youth of color at a time when Black Lives Matter and trans rights are making front-page headlines". The film was directed by Sara Jordenö and considered an unofficial sequel to the influential 1990 film Paris Is Burning, the film profiles several young LGBT people of colour participating in contemporary LGBT African American ball culture.
Hector Xtravaganza was a member of the House of Xtravaganza and well-known figure in the NYC ballroom life, entertainer, fashion stylist, and public advocate for HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ+ organizations.
Luis Camacho is a dancer, choreographer and recording artist. He is best known for his work with Madonna.
Jason A. Rodriguez is a Dominican-American actor and dancer. He is known for his role of Lemar Wintour in the FX television series Pose. He is also known as Slim Xtravaganza and belongs to the House of Xtravaganza, part of the New York City ballroom scene.
Carmen Inmaculada Ruiz, known as Carmen Xtravaganza and formerly as Carmen St. Laurent, was a Spanish-born American model and singer. A house mother of the House of Xtravaganza, she was featured in the 1990 documentary film Paris Is Burning.