Documentary film on the extraordinary life and times of Connie Norman,
the late Transgender AIDS Activist and LGBTQ media spokesperson, in early 90’s Los Angeles.
Directed by Dante Alencastre
Produced by Dante Alencastre, John Johnston
Official Selection – 2021 Outfest
Official Selection – 2021 BFI Flare London LGBTQ+ Film Festival
Official Selection – 2021 OUTshine Film Festival
Official Selection – 2021 Korea Queer Film Festival
This important film explores the extraordinary life and times of Connie Norman – the late Transgender AIDS Activist and LGBTQ media spokesperson, in early 90’s Los Angeles. She is one of the unsung heroes in the war on HIV/AIDS in the early 90’s. Many stand on Connie’s shoulders to this day, as she is a great example of activism and as an agent of change.
Award-winning filmmaker Dante Alencastre (Raising Zoey; Transvisible: The Bamby Salcedo Story) makes his second Outfest feature film appearance with this timely and moving film.
Outfest 2021 Screening Schedule:
Saturday, August 21st at 11:00 am at DGA1 – In Person
Sunday, August 22nd to Tuesday, August 24th – Virtual Screening
About the film AIDS DIVA: THE LEGEND OF CONNIE NORMAN
As the self-appointed “AIDS DIVA” and masterful spokesperson for ACT UP/LA in the late 80s and early 90’s Los Angeles, Connie Norman described herself as “ex-drag queen, ex-hooker, ex-IV drug user, ex-high risk youth and current post-operative transsexual woman who is HIV positive” and simply “a human being seeking my humanity.”
Standing proudly 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 confronting, Connie’s soulful and salty rantings and inter-sectional politics were heard widely through her local LGBT newspaper column and her pioneering LGBTQ cable television talk show. 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 life and love for our tribe and us all.
She served as a bridge, in both gender and politics, – from ACT UP/LA to the Radical Fairies, to right-wing talk shows to Sacramento policy meetings 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. Modeling ‘wokeness’ in an earlier era of crisis, Connie’s piercing and compassionate voice, through these rare vintage video clips, leaps into the present, urging us again to wake up, to take action, and to fully engage with our collective lives and our world.