Call Her Ganda

Call Her Ganda works best when it's focused on Laude and the case of her murder, an overwhelming showcase of empathy and persistence in the face of American racism and transmisogyny

Even with its stumbling nature... "Call Her Ganda" is still a valiant effort to fuse inquiry, testimony, heart and protest in dealing with its complex intertwining of facts and issues.

"My life has value," Ms. Laude once declared. She was right, and this film takes that truth to heart.

With access to only one side of its central conflict, and a scattershot approach that skims over key details and points of interest, this well-intentioned documentary leaves audiences feeling like they're only getting part of a much larger story.

As suspenseful as it is moving.

Following one of the most gut-wrenching events in the history of the Filipino trans movement, Call Her Ganda is a staggering and thought-provoking documentary on the epidemic of violence against LGBTQ people.

Raval makes the audience see the continued hatred and prejudice against trans women that often manifests into violence.

We have several very important issues all exploding at once here.

This is a film that doesn't shy away from challenging anyone's attitudes about trans people and the ongoing effects of colonialism.

A languidly told retrospective of Jennifer Laude's homicide, which meshes poignantly with the equally torpid, creaky judicial wheels of the U.S.-Filipino military industrial complex.

Call Her Ganda is just one of many transgender stories needing to be told.