Carole Horst The struggles of an undocumented immigrant who is also a trans woman in the Brighton Beach area of New York are given a subtle, delicate and ultimately powerful treatment in “Lingua Franca,” by filmmaker Isabel Sandoval.Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing will virtually debut the film in select theaters and on Netflix Aug.
26. Sandoval, who’s currently in North Carolina writing her next feature, made history last year when she became the first trans woman with a film in the Venice Film Festival.She said although it was “nerve-wracking” being chosen by one of the most important A-list festivals in the world, it was also a vindication, “because I got pushback from investors.