Digital Transgender Archive

Finding Aid to the John Canalli Photographs and Video Recordings, circa 1978-2010

Born on October 29, 1956, independent filmmaker John Canalli (also known by his family name Canaly) wrote and produced LGBT-themed dramas and documentaries. Active in LGBT film festival programming, Canalli served as Assistant Film Festival Director for the 9th International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival in 1985, where his dramatic short One Sings was screened. Canalli went on to develop the Gay Video Festival in San Francisco in 1986, and later co-developed west coast programming for the Gay Cable Network, which featured interview programs produced out of San Francisco and New York. Canalli also documented the AIDS crisis, writing and producing Heroism : A Community Responds, which highlighted the gay community coming together through Meals on Wheels and other forms of compassionate outreach. Among his most celebrated works, Canalli produced a number of video documentaries about Wigstock, a popular annual drag performance party in New York City's Tompkins Square Park. He died from complications from AIDS on March 25, 1992.

Photographs, video recordings, and personal papers, circa 1978-2010, from gay independent filmmaker John Canalli. The bulk of the photographs documents Canalli and his friends attending drag queen events in San Francisco. The video recordings include DVDs and videocassettes of Canalli's film productions, including Wigstock documentaries and outtakes, the documentary Heroism : A Community Responds, programs from the Gay Cable Network, and excerpts from unfinished works.