The Garden Left Behind (2019) was co-written and directed by Flavio Alves.
Carlie Guevara as Tina, who is an undocumented trans woman of color living in New York City. She supports her loving abuela, portrayed by Miriam Cruz. Anthony Abdo is Chris, who works in a small grocery store where Tina shops. They see each other all the time, but they never interact.
All three actors are brilliant in their roles. It's a pleasure to watch them at their craft.
As is portrayed well in the movie, being an undocumented person of color is hard in NYC. Being trans adds to the very real danger.
This is a film where plot and character are both important. I won't say more about the movie except that it builds to a stunning climax.
We saw this movie at the Little Theatre, as part of ImageOut, the Rochester LGBT festival. (If you can't find the film at a festival, it will work well on the small screen.)
This movie has a solid IMDb rating of 7.5. I think that it's even better than that. Thank you to ImageOut for bringing to Rochester Tamara Williams, a supporting actor, and Kristen P. Lovell, the producer. It's always useful to listen to people who insiders when a movie was made. In this case, it was particularly helpful, because both women told us they were part of the trans community. Sadly, they told us that the hatred and prejudice we see on the screen are a real part of their lives in NYC. The film is realistic, and that's tragic.
Carlie Guevara as Tina, who is an undocumented trans woman of color living in New York City. She supports her loving abuela, portrayed by Miriam Cruz. Anthony Abdo is Chris, who works in a small grocery store where Tina shops. They see each other all the time, but they never interact.
All three actors are brilliant in their roles. It's a pleasure to watch them at their craft.
As is portrayed well in the movie, being an undocumented person of color is hard in NYC. Being trans adds to the very real danger.
This is a film where plot and character are both important. I won't say more about the movie except that it builds to a stunning climax.
We saw this movie at the Little Theatre, as part of ImageOut, the Rochester LGBT festival. (If you can't find the film at a festival, it will work well on the small screen.)
This movie has a solid IMDb rating of 7.5. I think that it's even better than that. Thank you to ImageOut for bringing to Rochester Tamara Williams, a supporting actor, and Kristen P. Lovell, the producer. It's always useful to listen to people who insiders when a movie was made. In this case, it was particularly helpful, because both women told us they were part of the trans community. Sadly, they told us that the hatred and prejudice we see on the screen are a real part of their lives in NYC. The film is realistic, and that's tragic.