Victoria Cruz, a trans woman working at New York’s Anti-Violence Project, spends most of The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson searching. She’s set to retire from the Anti-Violence Project but wants to solve one last cold case: the death of trans activist legend Marsha P. Johnson.
Documentary director David France, best known for How to Survive a Plague, follows her intently, as invested in her search as she is. Johnson died under mysterious circumstances, her death ruled a suicide but questioned by members of the LGBTQ communities in New York City. For Cruz, this is a chance not only to right the wrongs of the past, but also heal the root of society’s epidemic of violence against trans women.
So it’s all the more devastating when, just as it seems she’s making some progress, Cruz — and thus The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson, which is playing at the Tribeca Film Festival — is stopped in her tracks. She’s constrained by governmental interference, limited resources and, unfortunately, apathy from the community. As trans people are killed at astonishing rates, Cruz finds she can’t solve the most infamous case of all.
It’s in this futility, and in the impassioned fight for trans lives despite the challenges, that The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson finds its strength. Read more