Lingua Franca

Isabel Sandoval's 2020 film is set in Brooklyn. Olivia, an undocumented Filipina immigrant, works as a caregiver for an elderly Russian Jewish woman. She lives in fear of deportation, and when the marriage arrangement she has been paying for to secure a green card collapses at the last moment, she is left with nothing. Meanwhile she grows close to the woman's grandson, who does not know she is a trans woman. The film stacks two vulnerabilities on top of each other: being undocumented, and the fear of being found out. Sandoval directed and starred, and when it played Venice Days it was noted as the first competition film there both directed by and starring an openly trans woman. The telling is calm and the tension is built without cheap devices. Who it's for: viewers seeking American independent cinema about migration and identity. Who it's not for: anyone wanting a fast-moving story and a reassuring ending.