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20.00
Small hall
On stage/Off stage
WIGSTOCK, THE MOVIE
Barry Shils, VS 1996, documentary, 90 min, video, in English without subtitles
An important historical documentary of the biggest drag event ever held in New York. The film features swinging musical numbers, from lip-sync singing drag queens to performances of Chrystal Waters and DeeLite. Also included are backstage interviews with the organisers, performers and the people from the audience. Director Barry Shils will be present after the screening for Question and Answers.
Since drag has hit Hollywood, Wigstock: The Movie is a refreshingly real and wonderfully celebratory look at New York’s once annual mega gathering of drag performance known as Wigstock! This wildly exuberant celebration of individual freedom began in 1984 as an East Village festival of underground culture. By the ’90s it had become a high-polish event and annual pilgrimage for fun-loving wig wearers from the world over.
Director Barry Shils' film chronicles the shift of the event from East to West side between ‘93 and ‘94. The non-stop glamour of Wigstock is intercut with illuminating testimonies from performers and festivalgoers. The viewer is able to see the skill and diversity of drag performance whilst beginning to understand the lives and experiences that power this entertaining performance form.
Acknowledged as America’s premier alternative entertainment event, Wigstock’s incarnation as a movie boasts a line up of film and music superstars including Alexis Arquette, platinum selling multimedia phenomenon Ru-Paul, and grammy nominees Crystal Waters and DeeLite, as a well as punk and art performers such as world-renown London-based performance artist Leigh Bowery, and LA’s Jackie Beat. The Movie puts you front row centre at the ultimate high-heeled teased up tribute to uninhibited self-expression.
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