Paris is Burning

Original title: Paris is Burning (USA, 1990)

Director: Jennie Livingston

Cast: Dorian Corey, Pepper LaBeija, Venus Xtravaganza, Octavia St. Laurent

Genre: Documentary

Plot: The film is set in New York, in the 1980s, and describes ball-room culture and the gay and transgender communities that created it. The documentary also sheds light on other issues relevant to those years and places: AIDS, racism, poverty, violence, and homophobia, alternating movie scenes with interviews to ball scene exponents.

Notes: Considered by critics to be an invaluable document for understanding an important cultural phenomenon, in 2016 it was chosen for preservation in the National Film Registry of the U.S. Library of Congress.
It inspired the Pose series.

Pose (TV Series)

Original title: Pose (USA, 2018-2019 (two seasons))

Designed: Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Steven Canals for FX

Director: Ryan Murphy

Cast: MJ Rodriguez, Indya Moore, Dominique Jackson, Hailie Sahar and Angelica Ross

Genre: Drama

Plot: Set in New York in 1987, the series sheds light on the complex context of those times: on one hand, the rise of the yuppies, on the other, the affirmation of the LGBT culture, especially the“ball culture”. In particular, the focus is on a “commune” where artists and outcasts create a new family of their own. These people came from nothing but believed in themselves and in those around them, supported each other and proudly fought to reaffirm the value of their choices in a society that despised them. Pose stands against racism, transphobia, homophobia, xenophobia and obtuseness in general.

Notes: In the United States, the series, broadcast since June 3, 2018, was renewed on July 12 of the same year, for a second season. There is already a contract for a third.
In Italy, the first season, distributed on Netflix, aired from January 31, 2019, the second from October 30, 2019.
The creation of the series was strongly inspired by "Paris Is Burning" (1990). Some main facts and attributes of the characters were deduced from the true stories shown in the documentary.
The first season received many positive reviews from critics and was nominated for several awards in 2019. These include, two Golden Globes (Best Drama Series and Best Actor in a Drama Series to Billy Porter), a GLAAD for Best Drama Series, and the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Drama Series of 2018.