Asia Society presents “Desire & Solitude: The Cinema of Isabel Sandoval”, featuring Sandoval’s latest film alongside two that inspired it and her three previous features. 

Lingua Franca 
Isabel Sandoval, Philippines/USA, 2026, 95 min.   
In English, Russian and Tagalog with English subtitles.

Followed by a Q&A with Isabel Sandoval moderated by film critic Genevieve Yue. 

In her only feature to date made in the USA, Sandoval stars as Olivia, an undocumented trans Filipina woman living in Brooklyn and working as a caregiver. Shortly after her latest attempt at a greencard marriage falls through, she meets Alex (Eamon Farren), grandson of the woman she cares for, and the pair hit it off. Deepening Sandoval’s concern with the way large political currents seep into the intimacies of everyday life, Lingua Franca is one of the most trenchant onscreen depictions of the anxieties aroused by American immigration policies.

A limited amount of complimentary tickets will be available to NYC college students with ID at the box office on the day of the screening.