Isabel Sandoval

Isabel Sandoval is an independent Filipino filmmaker and actress who has emerged as a vital voice for trans and immigrant narratives in contemporary cinema. Born on January 1, 1982 in Cebu City, Philippines, she grew up as an only child of a single mother and discovered a love for movies at the age of four when her mother took her to a pre‑war movie palace. She excelled academically, graduating summa cum laude with a psychology degree from the University of San Carlos before moving to New York City to earn an MBA at NYU’s Stern School of Business. Shortly after completing her graduate studies, she collaborated with a cinematographer roommate to shoot a short version of what would become her debut feature Señorita (2011), a daring drama about a trans woman working on a political campaign while caring for a child. The film premiered at Locarno and earned a Best Picture nomination from the Young Critics Circle of the Philippines, and the experience helped Sandoval confront her own gender identity. She followed with Aparisyon (2012), set against the backdrop of the Philippines’ pre‑martial‑law era, which later screened at MoMA as part of a showcase on contemporary Philippine cinema. After completing this work, she discreetly began her gender transition, a personal journey that would inform her subsequent projects. In 2019 she wrote, directed, and starred in Lingua Franca, a deeply personal story of an undocumented Filipino trans caregiver in Brooklyn; the film debuted at Venice, making Sandoval the first out trans woman of color to compete there, and later won Narrative Feature at Bentonville, while also earning her Best Actress honors from the International Cinephile Society. Beyond feature films, she has directed acclaimed shorts such as Shangri‑La (2021) for Miu Miu’s Women’s Tales and has taken on television episodes for series like Under the Banner of Heaven, Tell Me Lies, and The Summer I Turned Pretty. Her upcoming projects include the period drama Moonglow, set in 1970s Manila, and the ambitious adaptation Tropical Gothic based on Nick Joaquin’s short stories, both underscoring her commitment to exploring marginalised lives through lush visual storytelling. Sandoval’s work is consistently influenced by filmmakers such as Wong Kar‑wai, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Chantal Akerman, and she cites the themes of impossible love and female empowerment as central to her artistic vision.