I Am the Queen

Josue Pellot and Henrique Cirne Lima's documentary follows three young Latinas in Chicago during their preparation for the transgender Cacique beauty pageant. Twenty-year-old Julissa initially encountered hostility from her mother when she first self-identified as a woman at the age of 13. Nineteen-year-old Jolizza was thrown out of her family house after coming out as a transsexual, forcing her to struggle to finish school while maintaining a part-time job to cover her expenses. Details on the third youth, Bianca, are somewhat vague—also kicked out of her family home and rejected by longtime friends, she briefly mentions that she stays with other friends but does not go into detail. The trio are courageous in talking about their emotional and social trials, both within the wider society and their Puerto Rican community. Julissa and Jolizza also display a sense of mature self-empowerment as they move into their adult lives with new identities. As for the pageant, it is something of a ramshackle affair that loses half of its initial competitors and winds up as a show for the three spotlighted youths plus a teen gay male who performs in drag. Offering intelligent insight into the problems facing transgender teens, this is recommended. (P. Hall)