00:02What's left when your family doesn't love you?
00:05When you never quite belong because of your black skin or queerness?
00:09When you get debt threats due to your identity?
00:12I couldn't imagine that I can accept myself.
00:16It was impossible because I could die for this, you know.
00:23The ballroom is a safe space for black and queer people.
00:30Paris is the epicenter of the European ballroom scene.
00:36Hanabi has been here since 2016.
00:45It's really hard to be black in France, in Paris.
00:48You just have an image, a vision about black people are like that.
00:52I get punched because of my colour.
00:54I get so many things because of my colour but I never give up because I don't care.
00:59I'm beautiful, black is beautiful.
01:01And I have a triple culture, so I'm French, I'm Mauritanian, I'm Senegalese.
01:06Tired of racism and hostility, queer, black and Latino people
01:10built their own community in the late 1960s New York, called the ballroom.
01:15At the balls, they celebrate themselves.
01:17Participants showcase their talents in front of the crowd in categories like voguing, fashion and lip syncing.
01:23In the early 2000s, Paris established its own ballroom scene.
01:27Outside of this community, we can be stigmatised and marginalised because we are queer, black, people of trans experience.
01:37So it's important that we come together.
01:41The black population in France is estimated at six to nine percent, although official statistics don't exist.
01:47In Paris, African and Afro-Caribbean culture shapes entire neighbourhoods, with Chateau Rouge and Chateau d'Eau, widely seen as
01:55the traditional hearts of the black community.
01:57So this is the place to be for, we are in Chateau d'Eau, you see there is 13%
02:03of the Nhi, there is Garde de l'Est, so it's the central, and this is the place where you
02:08get your stuff, you get your products, you can get African beauty products, you know, you can get some wigs,
02:15you can get everything you need for African people, for the wigs.
02:20Many faces, one identity. France views itself as a colour-blind republic where origin and skin colour aren't supposed to
02:29matter. But is that really the case?
02:34I completely agree with that. If you understand a bit about biology and the differences in skin colour, you realise
02:41that, first and foremost, we are all human.
02:44What matters is our values, the act of sharing, and who we are as individuals. I believe we all have
02:50something to offer one another.
02:52Racism is still here, and we can experience it every day, with micro-aggression.
03:02In Paris, they live like a family. The whites, the blacks, they are doing things together. So, everything is okay
03:10for me.
03:12The city's diversity is closely linked to France's colonial past. Many people with links to former colonies have lived here
03:20for generations.
03:21For Hanabi, it's time to get ready for the Lavandix Ball tonight. He's gone with his house, the unbothered Cartiers.
03:29In the ballroom scene, a house is much more than just a dance crew.
03:33I see my house like a gang, you know. We're here, we are a team. We're gonna walk a ball,
03:38we're gonna carry.
03:39The house represents also the name of haute couture brands like Mugler, Gucci. You see, they just represent brands because
03:51we are inspired from fashion, you know.
03:53We're presenting the posing on the magazine.
04:01For many here, ballroom is a chosen family, especially supporting those who have been excluded by their biological family.
04:09I took a break from my family for three years. But my family now is cool because I educate them.
04:16I'm happy that I could keep this relation because I thought that I was losing them, you know, because I
04:21was going to choose myself no matter what, you know.
04:24And finally, I won everything.
04:34Ballroom may be a competition, but first and foremost, it's a community.
