THIS IS BALLROOM
Salão de Baile
Saturday, Sept 14 at 8:30 PM
International Village, Theatre 8
Director: Juru & Vitã
Brazil | 2024 | Portuguese & English with subtitles | 94 min | Documentary
Presented in partnership with the Vancouver Queer Film Festival (VQFF)
Ballroom filmmakers Juru e Vitã, explore Rio de Janeiro’s unique Ballroom scene and House culture. For this ambitious project, the filmmakers organized a special event inviting Rio’s top Ballroom artists, representing 11 Houses from the city centre and beyond. Led by prominent 2SLGBTQIA+ Afro-Brazilian performers, the Houses appear as chosen families for queer, trans, nonbinary and Black bodies who find in this tight community a life-affirming space. Mixing elements of local traditions, popular culture and North American influences, Rio’s Ballroom artists cook up their unique flavours of voguing, performance, music, fashion and dance, infused by the lived experiences of a resilient community pushing back against a racist, patriarchal state. Through electrifying performances and candid interviews, this insider look offers an authentic portrait of Rio’s vibrant Ballroom community, including the celebrations, the dramas and the shade.
Presented in partnership with the Vancouver Queer Film Fest (VGFF), and followed by a not-to-be-missed afterparty!
“This is Ballroom does what Jenny Livingston’s Paris is Burning never managed to achieve: presenting a throbbingly realistic depiction of House LaBeija’s legacy during an actual ball organised specifically for the film.”
-Savina Petkova, Little White Lies
World Premiere, CPH:DOX, 2024
JURU
Juru is a Brazilian researcher, dramaturgist and performing arts critic. Casting coach for the feature film “Com O Terceiro Olho na Terra da Profanação”, by Catu Rizo (2017, Mostra do Filme Livre) and the short film “Sunset”, by Bruno Roger (2014, Mix Brasil). Dramaturgist in the performance “Repertory n. 1”, by Davi Pontes and Wallace Ferreira. Master in Contemporary Arts Studies at UFF and PhD student in Arts at UERJ.
VITÃ
Vitã is a filmmaker and screenwriter, active in the Brazilian film and TV industry for over 10 years. Director of the short film “The day I remembered the trip to Bicuda” (2015), Producer of the feature documentary “It’s Not the First Time We Fight For Our Love” (2022), about the emergence of the Brazilian LGBT movement (Special Jury Award at Rio LGBTQIA+ Festival, Special Mention at Prêmio Félix at Rio de Janeiro Int’l Film Festival). Curator of Brazilian Comedy Film Festival (festcomico.com.br) and of showcases on Hong Sangsoo films in four cities in Brazil. Master’s degree in Communication, Cinema and Audiovisual at UFF (Brazil). In the ballroom scene, they participate as an independent photographer and are a member of the Legendary House of Lauren Intl.