Director PJ Raval’s documentary “Call Her Ganda” will be released in select theaters in Los Angeles on September 28 and in San Francisco on October 5th, followed by a national release through Breaking Glass Pictures.
The documentary is centered on Jennifer Laude, a 26 year old transgender and alleged sex worker who was found dead with her head plunged into a motel room toilet. Joseph Scott Pemberton, a 19 year old U.S. Marine was identified as the suspect. While on “liberty leave” Pemberton approaches Jennifer at a club and after discovering that Jennifer is a transgender, he brutally murders her. Her body is found by her friend and the motel receptionist. The film follows three women from different backgrounds, brought together through their united desire for justice. Virgie Suarez an activist attorney, Meredith Talusan a transgender journalist, and Jennifer’s mother Julita “Nanay” Laude.
“Amidst a media storm and police inquiry, as Jennifer’s family copes with their loss, three women intimately invested in the case, pursue justice—taking on hardened histories of U.S. imperial rule that have allowed previous American perpetrators to evade consequence: An activist attorney, Virgie Suarez, who labors to reveal the truth of Jennifer’s death from inside the courtroom, despite strategic silences and sly legal maneuvers from Pemberton’s defense team. A transgender investigative journalist, Meredith Talusan, who is determined to bring international attention to the case, writing sharp, in-the-fray essays for VICE, The Guardian and Buzzfeed. And Jennifer’s normally reserved mother, Julita, who finds herself at the effective center of a political uprising, inciting fellow protesters with a tenacious voice she never knew existed.”
For more information on the film, you can head to www.callherganda.com