Victoria Cruz

Describing herself as a 'street queen,' Johnson was a legendary fixture in New York City’s gay ghetto and a tireless voice for LGBT pride since the days of Stonewall, who along with fellow trans icon Sylvia Rivera, founded Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.), a trans activist group based in the heart of NYC’s Greenwich Village. Her death in 1992 was declared a suicide by the NYPD, but friends never accepted that version of events. Structured as a whodunit, with activist Victoria Cruz cast as detective and audience surrogate, The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson celebrates the lasting political legacy of Johnson, while seeking to finally solve the mystery of her unexplained death.

Ever since the 1969 riots on the streets outside New York City’s Stonewall Inn, LGBTQ communities have gathered there to express their joy, their anger, their pain and their power. This film explores what more than half a century of LGBTQ history in the United States looks like when viewed through just a few blocks in New York City’s Greenwich Village.

A documentary feature that focuses on the intimate and personal journeys of LGBTQ+ hate crime survivors, who by choosing to take their recovery public, inspire the survivor in all of us. Their stories take us to New York City, Denver and India to witness how intersectionality and speaking your truth can build a support community and even spark global change.