Netflix has released the official trailer for its upcoming film I Am Vanessa Guillen, a documentary examining the death of a U.S. Army soldier, and the nationwide calls for justice that came following her heinous murder.
The film will tell the story of Vanessa Guillen, an Army specialist who disappeared from the military base at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2020 after reporting to her superiors that she had been sexually harassed. More than two months after her disappearance, her dismembered remains were found along a riverbank, nothing ever reportedly having been done about Guillen’s harassment report. The man who law enforcement believes murdered Guillen took his own life soon after, though the perpetrator’s girlfriend was indicted for allegedly assisting with the crime. The trailer for I Am Vanessa Guillen shows off some of the behind-the-scenes efforts in the search to find Guillen, as well as the anger and outcry from her family following the discovery of her remains. As one of the officials interviewed for the documentary says in the trailer, “This was not one of those cases the military could sweep under the rug.”
The film will also feature interviews with Gullen’s sisters, Mayra Guillen and Lupe Guillen, who were instrumental in organizing mass protests that eventually found their way to Washington, D.C. The trailer shows off some short snippets of the Guillen sisters, in which the pair noted that their deceased sister had begun exhibiting signs that something was wrong in the months following her initial deployment to Fort Hood. “Not being able to sleep, losing weight, she would tell me that things weren’t what they seemed,” one of the sisters says in the trailer. “I called the staff sergeant, and he’s like, ‘We don’t know anything about her.'” Another interviewee says that Fort Hood cultivates “the worst of the worst.” According to Netflix, the film will also feature apperances from a number of elected officials who worked with the Guillen sisters, including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Jackie Spears (D-Calif.). The race ends with a clip of the sisters speaking in front of the White House, in which they say, “This is not a Republican, Democratic issue, this is not a race issue, this is a human issue!”
Described by Netflix as a “bracing, candid testament to what a family’s love can do, even in the face of unimaginable grief,” I Am Vanessa Guillen was directed by Christy Wegener, who provides the viewer with “a behind-the-scenes look at [the Guillen family’s] tenacious pursuit to change a deeply rooted, controversial military justice system.” The project was executive produced by Dan Cogan and Liz Garbus through their studio Story Syndicate, along with Jon Bardin and Nell Constantinople. Additional producers include Isabel Castro, Lindsey Cordero, Armando Croda and Wegener.
I Am Vanessa Guillen will be released by Netflix on Nov. 17. The trailer for the film can be seen below:
via Collider