Netflix picks up LGBT documentary ‘The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson’
By Ross Semple
Netflix has picked up the streaming rights to the documentary film The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson.
Marsha P. Johnson was a pioneering LGBT+ rights campaigner in New York City from the 1960s onwards. She was a key figure in the 1969 Stonewall riots, and was known for her kindness and charitable nature as much as she was known for her striking drag looks.
Along with her friend Sylvia Rivera, Johnson formed Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.), later becoming an AIDS activist who was fundamental in the early years of ACT UP. Marsha died in 1992 at the age of 46. Her body was found floating in New York’s Hudson River.
While Marsha’s death was ruled a suicide, her friends have been trying to re-open the case to discover the truth behind Marsha’s death. The film follows Victoria Cruz, a victim’s rights advocate as she campaigns to have Marsha’s case examined more closely.
Entertainment Weekly has an exclusive clip from the film, which shows Cruz calling an officer at the NYPD to inquire about the investigation into Marsha’s death.
The film first premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last year, where it received an overwhelmingly positive response from LGBT+ viewers.
The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson is directed by David France, who previously earned praise for his documentary How to Survive a Plague, which chronicled the inception of ACT UP in the early years of the AIDS crisis.
Netflix have not confirmed when the film will be available to stream.
The film will be screened in London later this month as part of the East End Film Festival. Click here for tickets.
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