The director of a film that has caused controversy for its portrayal of transgender women has said he will change the trailer for the film to exclude actual victims of hate crimes.

Israel Luna told The New York Times Tuesday he was inspired to make the film, Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives, because of injustices done to trans people, including the murders of Angie Zapata in 2008 and Jorge Mercado in 2009.

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation issued a call to action last week to get the film pulled from the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival, where it is slated for four screenings. More than 1,100 people signed a petition urging festival programmers to pull the film.

“It seems that the association between their brutal stories and the revenge/thriller content of the film in its entirety has been difficult to connect,” Luna told the Times.