The Queen

In 1967 the Miss All-America Camp Beauty Contest was held at Town Hall in New York. The documentary films the preparation more than the contest: hotel rooms, wig fittings, rehearsal, arguments, gossip. The narrator and organiser Jack Doroshow, performing as Flawless Sabrina, explains everything to the camera. Frank Simon's film was shot two years before Stonewall and is one of very few works documenting drag culture this openly at the time. But its most cited passage belongs to the finale. Placed fourth, Crystal LaBeija walks off the stage and, backstage, names the pageant's racism directly: she explains that Black queens will never be allowed to win. Crystal LaBeija went on to found the House of LaBeija and became one of the founders of ballroom culture, the culture recorded in Paris Is Burning in 1990. That makes The Queen more than a pageant documentary: it is the moment a separation begins. Who it's for: Anyone interested in queer film history, drag and ballroom culture, and 1960s New York. Who it's not for: The image and sound sit within the limits of the period, the film is short and its structure is loose. Its importance may not register without the context.