Portuguese entry Academy Award, Best Foreign Film 2011


João Pedro Rodrigues’ latest, a hit at both Cannes and the New York Film Festival, is a mystical melodrama that tells the tragicomic tale of a transsexual who is stuck between her junkie boyfriend’s desire for her to fully assume a female identity and her own Catholic convictions that have kept her
from surgery.  Tonia, a veteran transsexual in Lisbon’s drag

shows, watches the world around her crumble. The competition from younger artists threatens her star status.  And her son, whom she abandoned when he was a child, now a deserter, comes looking for her. 

“… a deep and fabulously sad fable, as well as an example of lyrical, playful, unpredictable filmmaking from this Portuguese festival star.“  The Village Voice 

Director: João Pedro Rodrigues             

Writers: João Pedro Rodrigues, Rui Catalão

Distributor: Strand Releasing

Genre: Drama | Fantasy | Musical

Runtime: 133 minutes

Country: Portugal

Language: Portuguese w/English subtitles

Rating: Not Rated

 

FESTIVALS: Cannes Film Festival, France; New York Film Festival, USA; Toronto International Film Festival, Canada; Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, Brazil; Vancouver International Film Festival, Canada; Vienna International Film Festival, Austria; AFI Film Festival, USA; Paris Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, France; Göteborg International Film Festival, Sweden; Palm Springs International Film Festival, USA; London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, UK; Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema, Argentina; Melbourne International Film Festival, Australia 

Official Website: http://www.strandreleasing.com/films/film_details.asp?BusinessUnitID={BFD06A96-7612-4F21-AEC0-3452C34902C4}&ProjectID={57DE2D90-3B51-4082-9313-9E6100C1441E}

Trailer in Portuguese: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRkAWFWDIWQ

Additional information:  760-772-2999 and https://desertfilmsociety.org

Desert Film Society is a non-profit 501 (C)(3) Organization