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Last Thursday Outburst Queer Arts Festival hosted the Northern Irish premiere of KIKI – a documentary film about an LGBTQ youth-of-color subculture of New York City’s Ballroom scene, made famous in the early 1990s by Madonna’s music video “Vogue” and the documentary “Paris Is Burning.”  The screening was followed by a great Q&A with the film’s co-writer and gatekeeper of the Kiki community, Twiggy Pucci Garçon.

We heard about the NYC House and Ballroom scene on Episode 19 of The Jewel Case when I chatted to Claire Hall – the Belfast-based DJ and events producer who last year brought three members of the Kiki community to The MAC for the performance event ‘House‘.

After seeing KIKI at Queen’s Film Theatre, I caught up with Twiggy and Claire to chat about the film – its powerful personal stories, their documentarian approach, and its sensitive portrayal of gender transitioning.  We also talk about Twiggy’s activism and community service initiatives for LGBTQ youth, and I ask Claire about the significance of this film’s showing in Northern Ireland.

The Jewel Case broadcasts Tuesdays at 8pm on Lisburn’s 98FM, Bangor FM and FM105 Down Community Radio.

The Jewel Case theme song is The Dark by Beauty Sleep

Contact @_johndarcy   //  Dig into the archive

Image of Twiggy by Maxwell Schiano