dream hampton

"Instead of focusing on the murder, I remembered she came from this vibrant community," hampton told BuzzFeed. "Yes, she did sex work, she smoked blunts, but the police engaged her because they smelled weed. They coerced her into getting her dealer into showing up with harder drugs, and then they arrested him and told him who snitched on him. They gave up Shelly almost 24 hours within making her an informant, which led to her death.

But she also came from a community that affirmed her identity. I wanted to include these people in the film so it didn’t focus on just the crime. In this film I think there’s a wide range of trans visibility. You're also dealing with folks who have suffered different degrees of trauma. While I was with her mother, she got a call about more body parts [of Shelly's that had been] found. One girl I interviewed was brutally attacked while I was filming. That's what it is to be in Detroit."