AIDS Diva Screening and Q&A with Dante Alencastre '83CC
New York, NY
WHEN: Thursday, May 9, 6PM to 8:30PM
WHERE: Lincoln Center's Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center
144 West 65th St, New York NY 10023
COST: $10
RSVP: https://events.blackthorn.io/en/i0gvMh6/g/fJ31t9aaBf/aids-diva-screening-and-qanda-with-dante-alencastre-83cc-3aAdVy6a5/overview
Join Columbia Pride and CAA Arts Access for a very special screening of the documentary AIDS Diva: The Legend of Connie Norman. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the film's director Dante Alencastre '83CC. Ticket link in the bio!
Seizing her power as she confronts her mortality, trailblazing trans activist Connie Norman evolves as and unexpected, irrepressible, challenging and soulful voice for the AIDS and queer communities of early 90’s Los Angeles.
AIDS DIVA: The Legend of Connie Norman” is a documentary film on the self-appointed “AIDS DIVA” and masterful spokesperson for ACT UP /Los Angeles in the late 80s and early 90’s Los Angeles.
Standing confidently in her multiple, fluid and evolving LGBTQ identities, she was often a lone advocate for the fledgling trans community of that era. Both beloved and confrontative, Connie’s soulful and salty rantings, intersectional politics and humor were heard widely through her local LGBTQ newspaper column ‘Tribal Writes’, and her pioneering cable television and radio shows.
Fueled by the urgency of her mortality and the hard-won honesty and clarity her survival had required, Connie challenged self-hatred, hypocrisy and denial, as she evoked a humanitarian, neighborly, transcendent vision of justice, freedom and love for her tribe and us all. Connie was a bridge-builder, in both gender and politics, between many worlds - from ACT UP/ LA to the Radical Fairies, from right-wing reality TV, to Sacramento AIDS policy lobbying, to her marriage to gay husband Bruce - and challenged us to confront what it means to be a woman, a man and ultimately a human being. Acknowledging both ancestors and future generations, her own inner truth guided her unexpected alliances and interactions. Conscious of the structural inequalities of oppression in an earlier era of crisis, Connie’s piercing and compassionate voice leaps into the present, urging us again to action, to wake up and engage fully with our lives and our world.
