Netflix’s I’m Your Venus: A Mystery Reopened, A Legacy Reclaimed

A new documentary revisits the life and unsolved murder of Venus Xtravaganza, a performer who became a global trans icon through her appearance in the landmark film Paris Is Burning. The new film, I’m Your Venus, directed by Kimberly Reed, picks up the story decades after Venus’s death, chronicling a journey for answers, reconciliation, and justice. Presented by Participant and produced by Stick Figure Productions, the documentary unites the two families that defined Venus’s life: the biological family she was born into and the chosen family she found in New York’s ballroom scene. Together, they seek not only to uncover the truth behind a trail gone cold but to celebrate and correct the record of a legacy that has endured for more than 30 years.

The Enduring Shadow of Paris Is Burning

To understand the new film is to first understand its predecessor. The groundbreaking 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning offered the world its first significant look into the vibrant, underground ballroom culture of New York City, a world created by and for Black and Latino LGBTQ+ youth. The film documented the elaborate balls where contestants competed in categories of dance, fashion, and “realness,” judged on their ability to embody a particular persona. These events were more than competitions; they were a lifeline and a space for self-expression in a society marked by racism, homophobia, transphobia, poverty, and the looming AIDS crisis. Within this world, “houses”—surrogate families led by “mothers” and “fathers”—provided shelter, support, and a sense of belonging for those often ostracized by their biological relatives.

Venus Xtravaganza, a young trans woman of Italian and Puerto Rican descent, was one of the film’s most memorable figures. An aspiring model from the influential House of Xtravaganza, she spoke on camera with a mix of candid vulnerability and fierce ambition about her dreams: a car, a house away from New York, and marriage in a white dress in a church. She was a rising star in the ballroom scene, but she would never see the film that made her an icon. In the final, haunting moments of Paris Is Burning, her house mother, Angie Xtravaganza, learns that Venus, at the age of 23, had been found strangled to death in a hotel room. Her murder remained unsolved, leaving her story frozen in a state of tragic incompletion that has haunted viewers for decades.

I’m Your Venus – Netflix

A Tale of Two Families

I’m Your Venus finds its emotional center in the convergence of Venus’s two families. The film introduces her biological brothers, John, Joe, and Louie Pellagatti, who grew up with her in New Jersey. In intimate moments, they reflect on their past, acknowledging that while their love for their sister was constant, their understanding of her gender identity was limited at the time. Their journey is one of grappling with this difficult past, working through long-held trauma and regret to find a way to properly honor her memory. One brother recounts the story of a Christmas present—a perfume holster, the first distinctly female gift he had bought for her—that he had wrapped and placed under the tree, but which she was never able to receive.

This journey of understanding leads them to connect with Venus’s other family: the legendary House of Xtravaganza. The film provides a deeper look at the ballroom house as a sanctuary, a critical support network that embraced Venus after she left home. Guided by the current House Mother, the empathetic Gisele Xtravaganza, the Pellagattis are welcomed into the world their sister inhabited. The documentary follows as these two disparate families meet, share memories, and build a new, unified front. While the pursuit of legal justice provides the mission, it is this process of familial reconciliation—of working through a difficult past to find a promising future—that forms the film’s poignant core.

The Pursuit of Justice and Truth

The documentary is not merely a reflection on the past; it is an active participant in the present. A central narrative thread follows the families’ efforts to reopen the cold case of Venus’s murder. They enlist a legal team and, in a significant development chronicled by the film, their collaborative efforts during the production lead the New York City Police Department to officially reopen the investigation. The film crew becomes part of the story, documenting the process of challenging the system and demanding a new look at a case that had been dormant for decades. The Trans Doe Task Force, a nonprofit organization specializing in missing and murdered LGBTQ+ individuals, also serves in an advisory capacity on the processing of DNA evidence.

Through never-before-seen archival material and outtakes from Paris Is Burning, the film allows Venus to contribute to her own story. This footage recontextualizes her life, giving her a voice beyond the confines of the original film. In one chilling sequence, Venus recounts narrowly escaping a violent attack from a man who discovered she was transgender during an intimate encounter. It is a moment that underscores the constant danger she faced and is speculated to mirror the circumstances that led to her death.

Reclaiming a Name, Honoring a Legacy

While the outcome of the police investigation remains uncertain, I’m Your Venus documents a series of profound and tangible victories achieved by the unified family. In a historic move, they successfully petition to have her name legally changed posthumously, officially recognizing her as Venus Pellagatti Xtravaganza. For years, she had been misidentified in death, buried under her birth name. The film follows the family to Holy Cross Cemetery in North Arlington, New Jersey, as they replace her tombstone with one that bears the name she chose for herself—a powerful act of reclaiming her truth.

The efforts to honor her extend to her origins. Her childhood home in Jersey City, a place where she found sanctuary with her grandmother and gave some of her most memorable interviews for Paris Is Burning, is successfully designated as a historic landmark. These acts represent a different kind of justice. In the face of a legal system where closure is not guaranteed, the family and community create their own, ensuring that Venus’s identity is honored, her story is accurately told, and her legacy is permanently cemented.

Then and Now: A Continuing Struggle

The documentary arrives at a time of renewed social and political division, and it deliberately collapses the distance between the past and the present. It frames Venus’s story not as a historical tragedy but as a timely and urgent parable. The film makes a direct link between the violence of the 1980s and the dangers that persist today by featuring a modern-day vigil for O’Shea Sibley, a young man stabbed to death while voguing at a gas station. The scene is a stark reminder that the same identity-based hatred that led to Venus’s death continues to claim lives. The film underscores that the systemic obstacles and violence faced by trans and queer people, particularly trans women of color, have not disappeared. By positioning Venus’s story in this contemporary context, the film serves as a powerful testament to the ongoing struggle for safety, acceptance, and the right to exist.

The journey documented in I’m Your Venus begins with the stark reality of an unsolved murder, but its destination is one of healing, love, and celebration. While the search for a killer provides the narrative engine, the film’s ultimate focus is on the cathartic reconciliation of a family and the resilient spirit of a community. It is a portrait of loss, but also of the irrepressible love and tough grace that allow a legacy not only to survive but to flourish, proving that while life may be finite, a name and a story can be reclaimed forever.

I’m Your Venus is now streaming on Netflix, having premiered on June 23.