Black trans artist and activist Reina Gossett has alleged that Oscar-nominated filmmaker David France stole her idea and research for a documentary about the notable and celebrated activist Marsha P. Johnson.
The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson premiered on Netflix this past Friday. The documentary investigates the mysterious death of Johnson back in 1992. Johnson was a black trans activist and drag queen who is most well known for her role in the Stonewall uprising. A film such as this has been long awaited, however, the excitement was cut short when Gossett took to social media to post her truth,
“This week while I'm borrowing money to pay rent, David France is releasing his multimillion-dollar Netflix deal on Marsha P. Johnson,” Gossett wrote. “This kind of extraction/excavation of black life, disabled life, poor life, trans life is so old and so deeply connected to the violence Marsha had to deal with throughout her life.”
Gossett also alleged that France stole the idea from her and her collaborator, Sasha Wortzel, while France was at Kalamazoo College’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. From there, France convinced the Arcus Center “that he should be the one to do this film” upon seeing her video proposal and had received a grant using her research on Johnson and a group Johnson co-founded called the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR).
Prominent transfigure and activist Janet Mock backs up Gossett's claims.
A black trans woman’s work about a black trans woman was used to make a film by a credentialed white cis man aided by Netflix’s millions.
— Janet Mock (@janetmock) October 7, 2017
Outrage has since ensued, many people are upset that France could do such a thing. However, France, of course, denies this. According to NBC News, France said he connected with her and Wortzel when he was told they were also working on a film about Johnson at that same point in time.
“I learned that they were working on a fictional experimental narrative short film and not at all a documentary,” he said. “We (Gossett, Wortzel and France) agreed at the time that there was not only no conflict but that we could support one another’s efforts.”
People are also calling France out for the involvement of Kimberly Reed, a trans documentary filmmaker who was hired by France to produce his documentary. Gossett claimed on Instagram that France reached out to Wortzel for their contacts and then hired Reed, who had previously been serving as an adviser to Gossett and Wortzel on their film.
To this, France responded, “she is the best known and most established transgender documentary filmmaker, and I was referred to her by another trans filmmaker as somebody I should talk to."
If everything that Gossett is claiming is true, this is a gross and infuriating irony. It literally goes against everything Marsha P. Johnson was about. Those in support of Gossett are asking that people not support the film put out by France. While the claims of theft aren't proven right now, it's important to remember that what's done in the dark will always come to the light.
