The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson
directed by David France, USA 2017, 105'
The Oscar-nominated director for How to Survive a Plague (WATCH DOCS 2012) takes us back this time to the early days of trans activism in America. Marsha P. Jonson, the self-proclaimed but truly beloved queen of the New York street, was the movement's icon, much like the other protagonist in France's film, Sylvia Rivera, with whom Marsha founded S.T.A.R. (Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries). Their activism came with the indelible beauty of the exclusion that it grew out of and fought against, which meant alcoholism and homelessness, and in time, when the gay movement was beginning to pave the way to social inclusion, exclusion within the LGBT community, which Rivera unmasked as treachery in a famous speech that she shouted aloud. In 1992, Marsha's body was found in the Hudson River. Her friends never believed the police version, which suggested suicide. How did Johnson really die? In France's film, activist Victoria Cruz plays the role of detective, and the film investigation convincingly answers at least one question: why didn’t the police carry out an effective investigation?
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2017 Tribeca FF
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2017 Sheffield Doc/Fest (Grand Jury Award)
