Photos of Angie

In July 2008, 18-year-old Angie Zapata was beaten to death in an apartment in Greeley, CO. Angie was a transgender victim, and prosecutors in the politically conservative Denver suburb made history by charging her killer, Allen Andrade, with a hate crime in connection to her death. Filmmaker Alan Dominguez offers a sincere study of Angie's brief life and violent death, including a lengthy review of the contentious murder trial of Andrade. The murder victim was born Justin Zapata, but began to self-identify as a female at a very young age and is referred to by the Zapata family throughout the film as being female. Despite hostility from the extended Zapata family, Angie insisted on being a woman, but would claim that she always identified her actual biological state in social settings. Angie met Andrade through the Internet, and he visited her apartment for sex, later arguing that he beat her to death out of panic when he discovered that she was a biological male. During the trial, the prosecution repeatedly referred to Angie as female, but Andrade's defense insisted on calling the victim Justin, stating that the deceased was male. But Andrade proved to be his own worst enemy, at one point joking in a tape-recorded prison telephone conversation that “all gay things must die”; later evidence also showed that he frequented bisexual community sites online and socialized with Angie prior to their fatal encounter. The successful conviction of Andrade has been celebrated by LGBT activists as a milestone in promoting a new era of civil rights protection. Photos of Angie offers a powerful examination of how Angie's tragic death became a legal and sociological turning point. Highly recommended. [Note: this has also been released on home video for $19.95 by IndiePix.] Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)