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New West woman remembered in film screening on Transgender Day of Remembrance

A film that pays tribute to the life and legacy of January Lapuz will be screened to mark the Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Alex Sangha, January Lapuz
Alex Sangha with January Lapuz. Sangha is the producer of My Name Was January, a short documentary about Lapuz that was released in 2018. The film is screening again for the Transgender Day of Remembrance Nov. 20.

A film that pays tribute to the life and legacy of January Lapuz will be screened to mark the Transgender Day of Remembrance.

My Name Was January, a film by Elina Gress and Lenée Son, was made in 2018 to remember Lapuz, who was killed in an attack in her New Westminster home in 2012.

The short documentary is screening virtually on Friday, Nov. 20 at 3:30 p.m. thanks to community outreach programming by KDocsFF, the Kwantlen Polytechnic University film festival that bills itself as “Metro Vancouver’s premier social justice film festival.”

The film was produced by Alex Sangha, who became a close friend of Lapuz when the two met through Sher Vancouver, a non-profit society for LBGTQ+ South Asians and their friends, families and allies. It focuses on Lapuz – whose story reveals a joyful, outgoing social butterfly who loved to sing and dance – and also on the broader issues facing trans women, and in particular trans women of colour and those who, like Lapuz, end up in sex work to survive.

The virtual screening will include an informal discussion, a welcome and keynote address by Sangha, the film screening and a panel discussion.

To register and receive the free event link, email mynamewasjanuary@kpu.ca.

Since the making of My Name Was January, Sher Vancouver has established a new division, Sher Films, which will focus on social justice documentaries.

Sher has also signed an agreement with OUTtv to broadcast its latest film, Emergence – Out of the Shadows, across Canada. Find out more at www.sherfilms.ca.