In "The Garden Left Behind", Flavio Alves directs a masterpiece shaped by his deep empathy. Centered on the life of an undocumented immigrant transwoman in #NewYork, he shows how the marginalised, struggling for survival & dignity hold on to their courage & compassion.

And in a rare act, he shows how masculine insecurities, and dominant patriarchal values, shape transphobia. He rejects narrative of prejudice & hate and shows how, through everyday gendered socialisation, transphobia is produced and consumed.

Apart from the protagonist, Tia Carrera, (played Carlie Guevara) is her abuela (grandmother), played by Miriam Cruz. The tender relationship between the two, where the abuela is reconciling with her grandsons sex change, allows for some of the most emotional moments in the film.