Rising New York ballroom legend and trans icon Venus Xtravaganza was killed aged 23 in December 1988 and her murder remains unsolved. Venus has lived on as a gentle, captivating, playful, and vibrantly indelible light in Jennie Livingston’s 1991 documentary Paris Is Burning, which featured Venus describing her life as it was and her dreams for the future of a modeling career, and being a wife and mother.
Director Kimberly Reed’s (Prodigal Sons, Dark Money, Equal) profoundly moving feature documentary I’m Your Venus, which world premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Festival, picks up Venus’ story 35 years on by introducing us to three of her biological brothers who she grew up with in New Jersey—John, Joe, and Louie Pellagatti—as they seek to find out more about the circumstances of her death through NYPD records, and attempt to secure a posthumous legal name change for Venus.
It might be decades since her death, but the wounds of losing her so young under such tragic circumstances are still tender, which Reed viscerally captures throughout the film. Reflecting back to the 80s is painful for the Pellagattis and they admit that although they never stopped loving her, they did not understand or accept Venus as being trans at that time and did not always make life easy for their sibling, though it is difficult for them to hear criticism from outside their family. Venus did find acceptance in her grandmother, whom she moved in with in the house across the street. It was in her bedroom in her grandmother’s home where she gave some of the interviews featured in Paris Is Burning, and as we see exterior shots of the window it is easy to picture her there behind that curtain sitting on her bed all those years ago.
The only footage of Venus captured on film comes from Paris Is Burning, and I’m Your Venus is in conversation with Livingston’s documentary as it recontextualizes that footage, weaving scenes throughout the film, using them in their original form, as reedited sequences, and including outtakes. Powerfully, as we hear the memories of those who knew Venus, these excerpts allow her to speak for herself. Haunting at times, but always pulsating with life, these scenes are a testament to the ability of the medium of film to keep people alive, just as our memories allow us to conure vivid images of those we’ve lost, compressing years so it can feel like no time has passed at all. As we travel back and forth between the late 80s and today, there is a compelling flow to the film thanks to editors Eric Daniel Metzgar and Michael Palmieri, and supervising editor Dava Whisenant.
Acknowledging that Venus had two families, both biological and chosen, the Pellagattis meet with members of the House of Xtravaganza, including those who knew Venus, and those who only know her through her legacy, such as current House Mother Gisele Xtravaganza, who joins the brothers in meetings with lawyers. It is touching to see the deep relationship that builds between the two families throughout the film as they cobime their efforts to honour Venus. It is poignant that Gisele, along with many others in the ballroom community today, has achieved the successful modeling career that Venus dreamed about. While Pose star Dominique Jackson, an executive producer on the film, speaks about the strength that seeing Venus in Paris Is Burning gave to her, as Reed maps the lineage between the women, empoweringly reinforcing what we know but the wider world sometimes choses to forget, that trans and queer people have always been here.
As well as establishing what the ballroom scene was like when Venus was a part of it, I’m Your Venus shows a still vibrant contemporary ball community, with houses remaining urgently needed as biological family rejection continues, and queer and trans lives, especially those of colour, remain in danger because of societal prejudice, which turns to hate and violence. This was all too tragically clear last July when dancer and choreographer O’Shae Sibley was murdered at a Brooklyn gas station for voguing. Also clear, was the resilience, passion, and love of the ballroom community who honoured O’Shae’s life with a rally and memorial ball at the spot where he was killed, powerfully answering hate with fierce, unapologetic self-expression and resistance. Footage from that day forms a potent sequence in the film, demonstrating the strength of community coming together, led by figures such as costume designer and activist Qween Jean.
Reed and her cinematographers—Joshua Z Weinstein and Rose Bush (who shot the Oscar-winning short Colette)—bring an engaging and unobtrusive verité style and real intimacy to scenes of Venus’ brothers, initially shot in domestic locations, and then in legal meetings and elsewhere. Clearly, a bond of trust was established between the subjects and filmmaking team, but without compromising Reed’s objective lens. As the film moves between archive from Livingston’s documentary and Reed’s present day footage, the interviews share a similar raw, unfiltered quality and immediacy.
Key to the film’s success is its calm, measured tone that allows the inherently deeply moving narrative to unfold without sensationalizing any details or manipulating the viewer. For instance, it doesn’t pull back from the grim facts transcribed in NYPD records, but includes them in a respectful way that honours Venus’ memory in its honesty in discussing how she died. Ultimately, this is a film about memory, human dignity, the complexity of families and how it is never too late to make amends, to find peace for those left behind and secure the legacy of those we lost to soon.
Paris Is Burning has been a lifeline to so many over the past three decades who didn’t see themselves reflected in the world elsewhere. I’m your Venus has the potential to speak to today’s audiences in an impactful way too as we see hope and a way forward in the Pellagattis coming together with the Xtravaganza, something that would likely have been unimaginable for Venus. It is healing to witness how people can evolve when they don’t close themselves off and try to understand and respect those who might seem different form them.
By James Kleinmann
I’m Your Venus received its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival 2024 and debuts on Netflix on Monday, June 23rd, 2025.
