
In this beguiling drama, an undocumented Filipina immigrant paranoid about deportation works as a caregiver to a Russian-Jewish grandmother in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. When the American man she’s secretly paying for a green card marriage backs out, she becomes involved with a slaughterhouse worker who is unaware that she’s transgender.
- Sinema Transtopia
- Festival International du Film de Mons – International Competition
- Palm Springs Film Festival
- Melbourne Queer Film Festival
- Venice Days – International Competition
- BFI London Film Festival – International Competition
- International Film Festival of India Goa – World Panorama
- Busan International Film Festival
- Hamburg International Film Festival
- Thessaloniki Film Festival
- American Film Festival Wroclaw – Competition
- Everybody’s Perfect LGBT Film Festival

Isabel is a New York-based filmmaker whom The Museum of Modern Art--citing her "muted, serene aesthetic"--has recognized as a "rarity among the young generation of Filipino filmmakers". She has produced, written and directed three full-length features, including "Señorita" (2011), which premiered in competition at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland and was nominated for Best Picture by the Young Critics Circle of the Philippines. "Señorita" also won the Emerging Director Award at the 2012 Asian-American International Film Festival. Her second feature film, "Apparition" (2012), a period drama about cloistered Filipino nuns during the Marcos regime, was widely acclaimed in its Philippine theatrical release. After competing at the Busan International Film Festival, it won a number of international awards, including the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NetPAC) Award at the 2012 Hawaii International Film Festival as well as the Audience Award at the 2013 Deauville Asian Film Festival in France. Apparition had a week-long theatrical run at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2013 and was showcased again in a 2017 film series "A New Golden Age: Contemporary Philippine Cinema". Her third feature, "Lingua Franca", an immigration drama set in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, stars Eamon Farren ("Twin Peaks: The Return", "The Witcher"), Lev Gorn ("The Americans") and Lynn Cohen ("The Hunger Games", "Sex and the City"). It has received support from IFP, SFFILM, Frameline, the New York City Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME), New York Foundation for the Arts and the Tribeca Film Institute. In March 2017, she was part of the SXSW 2017 panel "The Future is Female: Parity Now" alongside acclaimed filmmakers Bette Gordon and Nanfu Wang. Isabel has a MBA from the New York University Stern School of Business and has a background in CPG brand management.
- Lingua Franca – 2019
- Apparition – 2012
- Señorita – 2011
- Señorita – 2009 – Short film
- Ritwal – 2004 – Short film
Isabel Sandoval
Eamon Farren
Ivory Aquino
PJ Boudousque
Lev Gorn
Lynn Cohen
Screenwriter: Isabel Sandoval
DOP: Isaac Banks
Editor: Isabel Sandoval
Costume Design: Clint Ramos
Sound Design: Albert Michael M. Idioma
Composer: Teresa Barrozo
Production Design: Clint Ramos
Executive Producers: Jerome Kerkman, Raymond Francisco, Samuel S. Verzosa, Fernando Ortigas, E. A. Rocha, Vincent R. Nebrida, Sarah Brennan Kolb, Nicole Cosgrove, Romulo Aromin Jr., Gigi Dement
Producers: Jhett Tolentino, Carlo Velayo, Darlene Catly Malimas, Isabel Sandoval
World Sales: Luxbox
