Hi! I’m film critic & festival programmer Cyrus Cohen ( @film_fag), & I’ll be diving into one of my all-time favorite films, LINGUA FRANCA by Isabel Sandoval, which is currently available for all of you to watch on Netflix! (thread)

Films about trans women by trans women are already quite rare, but Sandoval’s film goes above & beyond any trans representation I’ve seen by not just humanizing but honoring transgender people, our nuanced thoughts, & our complex goals in the multi-faceted way we deserve.

The film focuses on Olivia (played by Sandoval herself), an undocumented Filipina caregiver working for Olga (the late, great Lynn Cohen), as she tries to get a green card so she can stay in New York City without the omnipresent fear of ICE raids looming over her.

Enter Alex (Eamon Farren), Olga’s troubled grandson. He & Olivia connect, sharing tender moments in spite of or because of their differences. Surprising developments follow with an empowering finale that shirks expectations for both Olivia & trans people in cinema more broadly.

Rather than centering overplayed coming-out scenes or images of transphobic violence, Sandoval instead chooses to magnify the quieter moments in Olivia’s life. In her hands, Olivia is a fully realized human who is as flawed as she is remarkable, as desiring as she is desired.

Agency is what I think about most when reflecting upon LINGUA FRANCA. Historically, transgender people in film have been used as the butt of jokes, as props for cisgender characters' development, or as an othered spectacle like zoo animals.

Here, there is none of that. Sandoval firmly rejects the dichotomy of trans representation that Julia Serano outlines in her book Whipping Girl: "the ‘deceptive transsexual’ or the ‘pathetic transsexual.’” In LINGUA FRANCA, trans women are not ogled or pitied. They can just be.

Sam Feder’s brilliant documentary DISCLOSURE (also on Netflix) provides a thorough oral history of trans representation in American media & the harmful tropes it fell into. Seeing LINGUA FRANCA through the lens of what came before only further emphasizes how game-changing it is.

The film is graceful, surprising, & powerful, but most of all it is real. After decades of stereotypical, lazy, & even damaging depictions of transfemininity, LINGUA FRANCA provides a model for what movies & TV shows about transgender people can & should look like.

When underrepresented filmmakers are given sufficient resources & opportunities to tell their own stories on their own terms, there is absolutely nothing stopping them from making work on this level that is equally boundary-breaking & transcendent.

Given Trans Day of Visibility just passed one week ago, I could think of no better way to end this thread than through Isabel’s own words. Visibility is the bare minimum. Trans viewers & artists alike deserve far more, & we’re finally getting that. https://twitter.com/Isabelvsandoval/status/1377345774862880768