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  • altSHIFT Volume One

Happy Birthday, Marsha!

Country: USA, Language: English, 13 mins

  • Director: Reina Gossett; Sasha Wortzel
  • Writer: Reina Gossett; Sasha Wortzel
  • Producer: Luisa Conlon; Zackary Drucker

CGiii Comment

Expectations were running high...considering the backlash that Stonewall received!

Good cinematography, good production design - sadly - let down by inadequate direction...and, a few of the performances leave too much to be desired.

The 'true' story of Stonewall is never going to be told...because, nobody knows the truth. This is a fiction of a true event...just like Mr Emmerich's film is.


Trailer...

Official Trailer for Happy Birthday, Marsha! from sasha wortzel on Vimeo.

The(ir) Blurb...

When Marsha and Sylvia, self-proclaimed 'street queens' - homeless, Black & Latina trans women - ignite the Stonewall Rebellion, they change LGBT politics forever. It's a hot summer day in June, 1969. Marsha throws herself a birthday party and dreams of performing at a club in town, but no one shows up. Sylvia, Marsha's best friend, distraught from an unsuccessful introduction between her lover and her family, gets so stoned she forgets about the party. After encountering a series of micro-aggressions from street harassment to tense encounters with the police that day, Marsha and Sylvia eventually meet at the Stonewall Inn to finally celebrate Marsha's birth. When the police arrive to raid the bar, Marsha and Sylvia are the first to fight back. Happy Birthday, Marsha! is the story of two brave best friends and the everyday decisions they made that changed the course of history.

Cast & Characters

Grace Dunham as Junior;
Mya Taylor as Marsha P. Johnson;
Eve Lindley as Sylvia Rivera;
Silas Howard as Stonewall Manager;
Cherno Biko as Andorra;
Rios O'Leary-Tagiuri as Bambi