1. Home
  2. FILM ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL
  3. DONNA

DONNA

By Jay BEDWANI

FILM ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL - as CONS

LGBT - Completed 2022

Ecstatic lip synching in downtown bars is a far cry from Donna’s Baptist upbringing; now in her seventies, she reconnects with the siblings who have never even seen her in a dress. DONNA is an intimate look at San Francisco iconoclast, Donna Personna.

Festivals
& Awards

San Francisco LGBTQ+ 2022
Login to view all information
    • Year of production
    • 2022
    • Genres
    • LGBT, Documentary, First film
    • Countries
    • UNITED KINGDOM, FRANCE, USA
    • Languages
    • ENGLISH
    • Duration
    • 75 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Jay BEDWANI
    • Writer(s)
    • Jay BEDWANI
    • Producer(s)
    • Dewi GREGORY (Truth Department)
    • Synopsis
    • The film is an intimate portrait of Bay Area trans activist, artist, performer and personality, Donna Personna who was 60 when she made her drag debut.

      Donna Personna first hit the stage with the legendary Cockettes. Ecstatic lip-synching in San Francisco’s downtown bars is a far cry though from Donna’s Baptist upbringing in San Jose; now in her seventies, her estranged siblings have never seen her perform or met her authentic self.

      DONNA follows her journey when she is offered a chance to co-write a play about an overlooked episode in queer history, the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, in which transgender women she knew stood up against police harassment. She creates a character to be played by a young transgender activist. Praised for her writing and emboldened by her new friends, she heads out of the city to be reunited with her sister, Gloria.

      This revealing and uplifting film is beautifully observed by Bedwani who met Personna early in his filmmaking career. The subject of his award-winning short (MY MOTHER) is revisited in greater depth in DONNA. Featuring mesmerising moments recalled by the artist/activist in her emerging writer’s voice, DONNA is a film that shows the strength that can be drawn from your community and proves it’s never too late to find your métier and truly blossom.
Top
Contact us
© Cinando(2024).com
All rights reserved. 3.0.0.0 - SOIF