Isabel Sandoval, Lynn Cohen, Eamon Farren, Lev Gorn
Isabel Sandoval (Aparisyon) writes, directs and stars in Lingua Franca, a luminous, low-key drama about an undocumented Filipina trans woman in America.
Terrified of deportation, after finding work as a live-in caregiver for Olga (Lynn Cohen), an elderly Russian expatriate in Brooklyn, Olivia’s (Sandoval) next priority is to secure a green card to stay in the country. She has a plan to do so, but when she unexpectedly becomes romantically involved with Olga’s grandson Alex (Eamon Farren), complex issues of identity, civil rights and immigration begin to threaten her very existence.
Part graceful study of lives under duress, part incisive critique on race and immigration in Trump’s America and part poignant love story, Sandoval has created a work of great intimacy and understated dignity, with elegant cinematography of New York’s older, less gentrified neighbourhoods evoking ’70s urban dramas. Deftly exploring complex themes of identity, desire and disempowerment, told with sensitivity and specificity, Lingua Franca signals a new era for trans cinema auteurs.
