A provocative documentary about a transvestite uprising in the Mexican community of Vera Cruz, in response to the brutal slayings of 29 transvestites. Murder and the Feather Boa also looks at the heroine and the martyr, with La Vanessa in her key role in spearheading gay protests in solidarity with the Chiapas peasants.

Twenty-nine transvestites were murdered over four years in Chiapas State, Mexico, yet no investigation has been made in connection with these crimes. This documentary chronicles the efforts of the gay and transvestite community there to bring these killings to the attention of the public. The dangerous street life they lead is in stark contrast to the glitzy cabaret acts they perform. Interviews with key figures in Chiapas paint a portrait of a transvestite culture that thrives in the midst of, and despite, brutal murders and omnipresent corruption.