Happy Birthday, Marsha!

Happy Birthday, Marsha! is a fictional short film that imagines transgender rights pioneers Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera in the hours leading to the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City. The film stars Mya Taylor as Marsha P. Johnson. It was written, directed, and produced by Tourmaline and Sasha Wortzel. The filmmakers raised over $25,000 on Kickstarter to fund the film. The film is a sponsored project of Women Make Movies. As of January 2018, Happy Birthday, Marsha! is in post-production.

The film, Happy Birthday, Marsha!, was released in 2018. The film received some press after Tourmaline accused David France of using some of her labor in his own film on Johnson's life, which France denied.

Historical accuracy
The film has been described as "ahistorical", as it has some major historical discrepancies. The movie claims that Johnson was throwing a birthday party on June 28, the night of Stonewall riot. However, Johnson's birthday was documented to be August 24, therefore Johnson couldn't be throwing a birthday party in June as the movie depicted. The movie claims that Sylvia Rivera was fighting with Marsha P Johnson in Stonewall riot, but her presence in the riot has been denied by many Stonewall veterans, including Johnson herself. Johnson claimed that Rivera has "fallen asleep in Bryant Park after taking heroin" at the outbreak of Stonewall riot, and Johnson "woke her up to tell her about the riots". The film depicts Marsha P Johnson as the first person to fight back the police, but this account is also denied by Johnson herself. Johnson stated that she arrived at the bar at two o' clock, and "the place was already on fire... it was a raid already. The riots had already started." Therefore, Johnson was not the first person to fight back at Stonewall riot.