SEÑORITA, a film by Vincent Sandoval

Wanting to quit sex work in Manila and start a new life, Donna, a transgender woman, gets her chance when an old friend asks Donna to look after her 12-year-old son Tomas while she works overseas for a year. Donna moves to a small town to look after Tomas only to find out that the town mayor who is seeking re-election is a crony of one of her regular clients back in Manila. In her efforts to break away from her past, she becomes entangled in the town's local politics and ends up leading a double life.

Director's Statement

A subversive spirit pervades Señorita, I think, much like it does the main character Donna/Sofia. Señorita plays like a noir melodrama, albeit trading ominous shadows for candy-colored tones (which likely betrays my fondness of Fassbinder’s Lola). Theme-wise, Señorita unabashedly borrows from classic noir: a wayward woman (oftentimes the femme fatale) runs away from a dubious past that inevitably catches up with her. But I wanted to do it a little differently: this time, the femme fatale is a transgender woman. More importantly, the femme fatale – more than simply the cause of the unwitting hero’s downfall – becomes the emotional center of the story.

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