 |
| Call Her Ganda: Jennifer Laude |
On October 11, 2014, in the Philippine city of Olóngapo [o-LO-nga-po], PFC Joseph Scott Pemberton, USMC, age 19, on shore leave from Subic Bay, drowned a Filipina transwoman, Jennifer Laude, whom he had hired as a prostitute, in the toilet of the motel room where they had their tryst. Thanks to a controversial 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement, although the incident took place off the base in Filipino jurisdiction, Pemberton has the right to have the case transferred to US military court if the local court did not complete its proceedings within one year. Although Pemberton was charged with murder, he was convicted of homicide, a lesser charge with a sentence of 6 to 10 years in prison, based in part on his “gay panic” defense.
This documentary tells the story of the murder and trial, along with the reaction from the transgender community, but fleshes it out with an intimate portrait of who Jennifer Laude was. Her friends called her Jennifer, but her mother called her Ganda, “beautiful” in Tagalog. We see Jennifer/Ganda in personal videos as well as still photos and interviews with family, friends, and activists. It’s a powerful chronicle of a story at the nexus of transgender rights and neo-colonialism. There were a couple of stretches where my attention lagged, but on the whole it’s very well done and definitely worth seeing. Highly recommended.
This documentary tells the story of the murder and trial, along with the reaction from the transgender community, but fleshes it out with an intimate portrait of who Jennifer Laude was. Her friends called her Jennifer, but her mother called her Ganda, “beautiful” in Tagalog. We see Jennifer/Ganda in personal videos as well as still photos and interviews with family, friends, and activists. It’s a powerful chronicle of a story at the nexus of transgender rights and neo-colonialism. There were a couple of stretches where my attention lagged, but on the whole it’s very well done and definitely worth seeing. Highly recommended.
• IMDb • official website • Twitter: @CallHerGanda #Justice4Jennifer • Facebook: @CallHerGanda • Instagram: @CallHerGanda •
No comments:
Post a Comment