Melissa Sklarz New York Trans Rights Organization (NYTRO) melis0213@aol.com
In response to a outcry from the transgender community condeming the movie trailer linking a murdered transgender woman, Angie Zapata, with 'Ticked off trannies with knives' movie director Israel Luna has agreed to produce a trailer so that Angie Zapata's name no longer appears.
email sent to Kelli Busey from Israel Luna March 29, 2010
"Kelli...
My initial thought of placing both Angie Zapata and Jorge Mercado's names was to give a disturbing reality to my film about transgender violence. Something horrible and disturbing does happen to my characters in the first half of the film.
After listening to many of the voices in the trans-community I've realized that the association between the names at the beginning of the trailer and the content of the film in it's entirety has been difficult to connect.
I've had time to think about it, and have decided to take their names off the beginning of the trailer. I'll begin working on this later today and have it posted this week. I’m not sure if you noticed, but the trailer on the Tribeca site has never included the reference.
Thank you for your email and I wish you the best as well.
Israel"
We are immensely relieved that Angie Zapata's horrific bludgeoning death by Allen Andrade will not be associated directly with this comedy.
However, we are still at odds with any inadvertent associations that this movie may produce with transgender people in real life.
We therefore ask Israel Luna in his amended trailer to place instead a acknowledgement that that this movie is meant for entertainment purposes only and the fictional personalities therein should not be confused as a portrayal of how transgender people interact socially.
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#Transgender Advocates respond to promised changes to 'Ticked off trannies with knives' Trailer http://bit.ly/ctXJgZ #LGBT #TTWK PLS RT
Update 3/29 11:49pm Israel Luna has committed to changing the trailer so Angie Zapata's murder would not be connected with this movie.
Setting the record straight.
In a effort to reach out to Israel Luna director of "Ticked off trannies with knifes" I sent him this email over the weekend:
Israel, I beleive we might have a way to defuse this divisive situation. If you agreed to remove the references to Angie Zapata's murder from the begining of the trailer I beleive most including myself would view this film in a very different light,
What I said before stands, I wish you the best,
Kelli Busey
Israel Luna has not responded to this email and the trailer remains unchanged.
Israel Luna is intentionally and with forethought slandering transgender people with a slur that would be used in the court of law by the prosecutor to prove a aggravated assault was in fact a hate crime.
*Israel Luna was fully cognisant of the offensiveness of his movie before it went into production.
The announcement of his project came as a comment by him on a Dallas Voice Blog article which was the very post that responded to my objection to the Dallas Voices indiscriminate and often use of the word "tranny".
*Israel Luna demonstrates his awareness of transgender sensitivities.
Luna, frustrated after receiving objections from the overwhelming majority of commenter's to the name and content of his planned movie singled me out for attack since I was the most outspoken. In a lowlife maneuver Luna attempted to shame me into silence by OUTING me as a pre-op transsexual.
Israel Luna Says: February 1st, 2009 at 11:47
I don’t know if this will matter or not but the simple story to my script is: GIRLS perform. GIRLS get bashed by STRAIGHT MEN. GIRLS are left for dead. GIRLS come back and kick their ass! The End. These characters will be so empowering, so strong, so amazingly-kick-ass hot and feirce! I don’t feel that TICKED-OFF PRE-OP TRANSITIONING M2F SEXUALLY REASSIGNING WOMEN WITH KNIVES would be as appropriate.
Outing someone intentionally ia a act of violence meant to endanger their well being. However I was not and am not ashamed of my poverty I endure since transitioning that prohibits me from obtaining sexual reassignment surgery.
Israel Luna is seeking wealth and fame by intentionally antagonizing and marginalizing transgender people. That deserves the recognition it is owed.
This movie may very well be shown at the Tribeca and the Q Cinemas in Fort Worth as planned regardless, but notice to all who will pay tribute to this tragic betrayal of their transgender brethren. You are paying homage to a deceitful and malicious man who's only joy is in tearing our society apart.
Do you believe Luna will be sedated by targeting transgender people exclusively? And so what if he does, you're not transgender?
You say you are already out so who cares? You trans/gay closeted child loves you and needs a chance in life. Your fellow church member who lives in fear of being outed deserves your concern. The unborn transgender, gay and lesbians who have yet to face a homophobic/transphobic family and society deserve better from you.
Speaker Pelosi: It's time to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act Sign our petition asking the Speaker to bring ENDA to a vote now After the historic passage of health care reform, we now have an opportunity to transform the lives of Americans again by passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
As shocking as it may be to believe in the year 2010, in 29 states a lesbian, gay or bisexual person can be fired simply because of their sexual orientation and in 38 states a transgender person can be fired because of their gender identity. That's why the Employment Non-Discrimination Act is so vitally important.
We've seen the passion Speaker Pelosi brought to the challenge of passing health care reform. Now more than ever, we need her passion and skill to achieve the passage of ENDA. Please join Cleve Jones, the Courage Campaign and GetEQUAL in adding your name to this petition that we will hand-deliver to Speaker Pelosi:
Dear Speaker Nancy Pelosi --
With health care legislation passing, now is the time to institute workplace protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people by passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
Rep. Tammy Baldwin says she believes that we have the votes to pass ENDA, and Rep. George Miller has said the bill is ready to come out of committee now that the health care bill has passed.
As Speaker of the House of Representatives, we call on you to act boldly and decisively and bring ENDA to the floor for a vote now.
My dear friends, every once in a while we get some news so fantastic, so wonderful we just want to shout it out, I am in love with life! I love life so much I have declared myself free! Free to live to day as whom I truly am. Free to live my life with my arms wide open!
This is a day of celebration unlike any other a person may have. It is our day of transbirthday!
Jenna, ecstatic that her gender marker was changed to show who she knows with her heart she truly is shared her joy with me. This is a unique celebration that only transgender people have. It is a meeting place we can all gather at for a moment and forget about the trials and tribulations that have defined our trip.
Jenna, my dear friend thank you for making our day so valuable by sharing this day with us!
GLAAD Contacts: Taj Paxton, Director of Entertainment Media, (323) 634-2028, paxton@glaad.org
Rich Ferraro, Director of Public Relations, (646) 871-8011, ferraro@glaad.org
GLAAD was recently alerted by community members and allies to a film called Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives that will be screened at the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival.
GLAAD has since seen the film in its entirety and can report that the title is far from the only problem with this film. The film, its title and its marketing misrepresent the lives of transgender women and use grotesque, exploitative depictions of violence against transgender women in ways that make light of the horrific brutality they all too often face.
Misrepresenting the Lives of Transgender WomenWriter/director Israel Luna based his film on the "exploitation films" of the 1970s such as I Spit On Your Grave, about a woman who was raped and sought revenge on her attackers. The five lead characters in Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives are brutally attacked by a group of men; two do not survive the attack, but the surviving three seek gruesome revenge on their attackers. The film is a pastiche of graphic violence and horror movie clichés, with a few scenes of campy humor.
By marketing Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives as a "transploitation" film, by using the word "trannies" (a pejorative term for transgender people) in the title of the film, by casting transgender women in some roles, and by citing the murders of Angie Zapata and Jorge Mercado in the trailer, Israel Luna has attempted to place his film squarely within a transgender narrative.
However, while some of the actors in the film identify as transgender, the characters are written as drag queens, “performing” femininity in a way that is completely artificial. The very names of these over-the-top female caricatures (Emma Grashun, Rachel Slurr, et al.) drive this point home.
Because of its positioning as a transgender film, viewers unfamiliar with the lives of transgender women will likely leave this film with the impression that transgender women are ridiculous caricatures of "real women." It demeans actual transgender women who struggle for acceptance and respect in their day-to-day lives and to be valued for their contributions to our society.
Exploiting and Sensationalizing Anti-Transgender ViolenceTransgender people are a marginalized and vulnerable minority in our culture, subjected to horrific hate crimes and pervasive discrimination. Relatively few media images of transgender people exist, so every media image becomes essential in educating audiences about transgender lives and working to eliminate the discrimination and violence they face.
In this context, it is irresponsible and insulting to make a film that serves up graphic anti-transgender violence as a "hook" for an homage to B-movies of the 1970s. Anti-LGBT hate crimes are serious issues that do not translate into an exploitation film. The very nature of exploitation films is to shock and titillate audiences with extreme, sensationalized violence.
Films like Boys Don’t Cry and A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story have graphically portrayed the murders of transgender people. In a serious dramatic context, such depictions convey the tragic reality of the violence that many transgender people face. But in this film, repeated shots of a baseball bat covered in clumps of hair and blood are grotesque – and serve only as horror movie-like gore. Depictions of violence and brutality are immediately followed by ridiculous scenes that make light of the horrific crimes that have been committed. There is nothing funny about the murders of the countless LGBT people who have fallen victim to hate-motivated violence.
Furthermore, the filmmakers have chosen to market Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives using a crass trailer that opens with references to the recent murders of Angie Zapata and Jorge Mercado, putting their brutal murders on par with the outlandish violence in this film. Sign The Petition Here
GLAAD finds it troubling that the respected Tribeca Film Festival would give a film that sensationalizes anti-transgender violence and misrepresents the lives of transgender women, a platform that affords such great exposure. The Tribeca Film Festival has a history of screening powerful LGBT films, such as the GLAAD Media Award-nominated Quentin Crispbiopic An Englishman in New York, and the GLAAD Media Award-winning film Transamerica, about a transgender woman reconnecting with her son. Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives does not meet, and in fact devalues, the standard of excellence established by the festival.
GLAAD has reached out to writer/director Israel Luna, the film’s producer and the Tribeca Film Festival, and both have refused to take responsibility for the problematic content and offensive marketing of this film.
Concerned community members have developed a Facebook group called "Boycott 'Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives' at the Tribeca Film Festival" that you can join at Here.
DEMAND that they not show 'Ticked-Off Trannys With Knives' at the Tribeca Film Festival.
From the facebook group Boycott Ticked off Trannys with Knifes" Recently the Tribeca Film Festival has announced that it will be screening the movie "Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives" directed by Isreal Luna. Billed as comedy/thriller/‘transploitation’.
Humour can be used to challenge and subvert, but this movie fails on both counts. In a society where trans people struggle to be accepted and have their lives viewed as equally valuable, this film does them no service at all. Instead, it perpetuates negative and harmful stereotypes.
Crucially, the movie fails to be funny because of the social context within which trans people live: transphobia is systemic, trans people experience disproportionate levels of violence and discrimination, and each year hundreds are murdered just for being trans. Portraying trans women as murderous vigilantes hunting down their abusers is hardly going to improve understanding about this heavily marginalized group of people.Those of us who are trans, or who love and respect trans people, won't let this movie go unchallenged.
For more information about the movie you can check the links section and read this blog post on Skip the Makeup: skipthemakeup.blogspot"
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