Olivia, an undocumented Filipina immigrant paranoid about deportation, works as a caregiver to a Russian-Jewish grandmother in New York. When the 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 a trans woman.
Lingua Franca is a 2019 Philippine-American drama film edited, written, produced, and directed by Filipina filmmaker-actress Isabel Sandoval. It is Sandoval's third feature film, her first international co-production, her first primarily in English, and her first following her gender affirmation. The film stars Sandoval as Olivia, an undocumented Filipina trans woman who works as a caregiver for Olga, an elderly Russian-Jewish woman in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. In pursuit of a man willing to provide a marriage-based green card to her, she worries about possible deportation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement while becoming romantically involved with Olga's adult grandson, Alex. The film's supporting cast includes Eamon Farren, Ivory Aquino, P.J. Boudousqué, Lev Gorn, and Lynn Cohen.
