House of Velvet
- Director: Ivana Hucikova, Igor Smitka
- Writer: Ivana Hucikova, Igor Smitka
- Producer: Simona Hrusovska, Monika Kraft, Monika Lostakova, Monika Prikkelova
CGiii Comment
The gentrification of Ballroom...this is faux, fake andfraud.
They are as queer as toe-nail clippings.
They all look like white, trust-fund kids waiting to cash in on their privilege...cultural appropriation at its most foul.
A well-made film about delusion.
Watch...
The(ir) Blurb...
This film follows a day in the life of the Kiki House of Velvet members. Scattered moments from their everyday experiences in the outside world dissolve when everyone meets again in the safety within their chosen family. Scripted scenes merged with authentic and lived experiences of the characters show how the ballroom culture intertwines with their lives and vice versa.
The ballroom culture, which originated in the US in the late 1960s out of oppression and discrimination of African American and Latinx trans women, has always served as a space for freedom of self-expression and liberation for marginalized and queer people. The culture is still very much vibrant and alive today, in New York, Paris or all around the world.
For us here in Central and Eastern Europe, the ballroom culture emerged in quite a different context. But it tries to stay true to its original purpose. All of the dance, fashion, body and performance categories stem out of issues which queer, trans and BIPOC minorities had to face in the past and sadly a lot of them are still persistent in our societies even today - especially in the context of this region.