I'M YOUR VENUS

description

A moving and timely documentary following the unsolved murder of Venus Xtravaganza, star of the legendary PARIS IS BURNING, as Venus’ two families — biological and ballroom — come together to seek answers and celebrate her legacy.

Venus Xtravaganza emerged as a global trans icon after being featured as a glamorous “ball walker” in the groundbreaking 1991 documentary PARIS IS BURNING. Venus was murdered before that film’s release, and now, decades later, I’M YOUR VENUS picks up a trail gone cold.Haunted by unresolved questions and family trauma, Venus’s biological relatives – brothers John, Joe, and Louie Pellagatti, and her niece Jillian – enlist a legal team to find the answers that have eluded the family for decades. Together with Venus’ chosen family from the House of Xtravaganza, they work together to honour Venus' impact in the queer community, seek answers about her killing, and in the process find unexpected common ground.

OFFICIAL SELECTION
Tribeca Festival 2024
BFI London International Film Festival 2024
Palm Springs International Film Festival 2025
Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2025
Cleveland International Film Festival 2025

DIRECTOR'S BIO
Kimberly Reed’s most recent film DARK MONEY was an award-winning selection at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, was promptly named one of Vogue’s “66 Best Documentaries of All Time,” shortlisted for an Oscar, nominated for Best Documentary of the Year by IDA and for four Critics’ Choice Awards, and won the prestigious duPont Columbia Prize for Broadcast Journalism. Her trailblazing film PRODIGAL SONS, won 14 international awards and was the first documentary by a transgender filmmaker to be theatrically released in the US. She recently directed episode 2 of the four-part non/fiction series EQUAL on HBO MAX, titled “Transgender Pioneers,” and served as Executive Producer of the award-winning HBO documentary TRANSHOOD. Ms. Reed also produced, edited and wrote PAUL GOODMAN CHANGED MY LIFE, and produced THE DEATH AND LIFE OF MARSHA P. JOHNSON.