Film: AIDS Diva: The Legend of Connie Norman

We are pleased to present the official San Francisco premiere of AIDS DIVA: The Legend of Connie Norman, a documentary film about Connie Norman, the self-appointed “AIDS Diva” and masterful spokesperson for ACT UP/Los Angeles in the late 1980s and early 1990s. A panel discussion, moderated by Gerard Koskovich, and featuring director Dante Alencastre, Ms. Billie Cooper and Garza will follow the film. Seating is first-come, first-served.

Not rated, 60 mins., 2021

Dante Alencastre is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and LGBT community activist based in West Hollywood. Dante found his personal calling documenting the lives of LGBT individuals during a trip back to his native Peru, which resulted in the 2007 award-winning film, En El Fuego (In the Fire), which won the Outfest Audience Award. Updating the successes of this Peruvian group of transactivists five years later resulted in the film El Fuego Dentro (The Fire Inside). Dante’s documentary Transvisible: Bamby Salcedo’s Story (2013), focusing on the personal and professional life of an extraordinary Los Angeles transgender activist and leader, premiered at Outfest and toured around the country. Dante also directed Raising Zoey (2016), the story of a 13-year-old transgender girl, Zoey Luna, and her highly supportive Latina working-class single mother, Ofelia. 

Ms. Billie Cooper is a fierce advocate for her black trans community and those living with HIV. She is a long-time community activist and the founder of TransLife at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, a weekly group for transgender men and women, gender-non-conforming, and gender-fluid people. She was a Community Grand Marshal of SF Pride in 2019. She is also a US Navy veteran. 

Garza, originally from Perú, is an active member of the Latino gay men’s support groups Hermanos de Luna y Sol at the Mission Neighborhood Health Center and El Ambiente Program at AGUILAS. She is the star recruiter at Bridge HIV of the San Francisco Department of Public Health and its many HIV Vaccine Trials, Prep and other HIV Prevention Studies. Miss Garza is also a classically trained ballet dancer, choreographer, actor, drag performer and rehabilitation dance instructor for people with Parkinson’s disease. 

Gerard Koskovich is a public historian and book dealer who divides his time between San Francisco and Paris. A founding member of the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco and a member of the Collectif Archives LGBTQI in Paris, he has been active in the movement to create LGBTQ archives and museums for four decades. His most recent work focuses on public history initiatives dealing with HIV/AIDS; the history of queer history as a cultural practice in the United States; LGBTQ place-based history, preservation and intangible cultural heritage; and the work of early-20th-century homosexual and transgender emancipation pioneer Dr. Magnus Hirscheld.

Connect 

AIDS Diva - Website | AIDS Diva - Twitter | AIDS Diva - Instagram 

This event is a partnership with the Transgender District, San Francisco AIDS Foundation, Openhouse SF and GLBT Historical Society.