Jennie Livingston is an American film director. She is best known for her work on the 1991 documentary Paris is Burning.
Livingston was born into a Jewish family in Dallas, Texas but was raised in Los Angeles, California. She attended Yale University, where she studied photography, drawing, painting, and English literature. She graduated from Yale in 1983. In 1984, Livingston attended a summer filmmaking class at New York University. The following year, she moved to New York City permanently and became involved with the AIDS activist group ACT UP.
Livingston filmed Paris is Burning during the 1980's and it was released in 1990. Subsequent work of Livingston's includes the short films Hothead and Who's the Top?, both of which explore queer themes. Livingston is an out lesbian.
After a series of unexpected and devastating deaths in her family, Livingston began work on her project Earth Camp One. The film has been in post-production since 2014.
Jennie Livingston's idea for Paris Is Burning began a number of years before the film's 1990 release. As a photography and painting student from Yale, Livingston became involved in news media after college. It was through this role that she...
