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'Lingua Franca' wins top award at int'l LGBT film fest

Entertainment

'Lingua Franca' wins top award at int'l LGBT film fest

By Richa Noriega

Filipino film “Lingua Franca” won the Best International Narrative at the 15^th Tel Aviv International LGBT Film Festival in Israel.

(LINGUA FRANCA FACEBOOK / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)

The Tel Aviv International LGBT Film Festival described the film as "beautifully written" inasmuch as "excellent directing.”

“A beautifully written script and excellent directing, that contains delicate and genuine relationships, and an intense political swirl,” the film festival said on its website.

“The filmmaker intertwines the cross-generation relationship between patient and caregiver in a hypersensitive way, without any cliches. We are very impressed with the filmmaker and her outstanding performance,” it added.

Directed by Isabel Sandoval, the film follows the story of an undocumented Filipino transwoman who works as a caregiver to a Russian elderly in New York. She became romantically involved with the Russian senior citizen’s grandson as she pursues a marriage to obtain a green card.

The Tel Aviv International Film Festival focuses on the LGBT themed films from around the world.

The festival was held in Tel Aviv, Israel ran from Nov. 12 to 21.

"Lingua Franca" also won the Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature in this year’s Bentonville Film Festival at Bentonville, Arkansas, United States last Aug. 16.

READ MORE: Filipino film ‘Lingua Franca’ wins top prize at 2020 Bentonville Film Festival

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