Monica (2023)
Director: Andrea Pallaoro Run Time: 106 min. Rating: NR Release Year: 2022
Starring: Adriana Barraza, Emily Browning, Joshua Close, Patricia Clarkson, Trace Lysette
Country: United States, Italy
Language: English
About the film:
World Premiere at the 2022 Venice Film Festival.
The intimate portrait of a woman who returns home to care for her dying mother. A delicate and nuanced story of a fractured family, the film explores universal themes of abandonment, aging, acceptance, and redemption.
“achieves a delicate balance that’s wholly unlike other trans films, delivering a universal human story… “Monica” raises the bar for trans stories onscreen”
Trace Lysette received a nomination for Best Lead Performance at the 2024 Independent Spirit Awards.
About the filmmaker:
Andrea Pallaoro is an Italian film director and screenwriter. His short film Wunderkammer (2008) won six international awards and was selected for the official competition of over fifty film festivals around the world including Sundance. His debut film Medeas (2013) had its world premiere in Venice, and with his second feature Hannah (2017), he won Best Director in Marrakech and the New Voices/New Visions Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
Directed from a script he co-wrote with Orlando Tirado, Pallaoro’s third feature Monica (2023) premiered at Venice. He has also served in the jury of multiple international film festivals including the 75th Venice Film Festival, the Chicago International Film Festival, the Black Nights Tallinn International Film Festival and the Biografilm International Film festival. He received his BA from Hampshire College and his MA in Film Directing from the California Institute of the Arts.
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