The Journey of Monalisa
(The Journey of Monalisa)
Nicole Costa | Documentary
2019 | 93 minutes | Chile, United States
Chilean-born performer and writer Iván Monalisa fully embraces his / her dual selves: scrappy, masculine Iván as well as diva, transvestite sex-worker Monalisa.
Synopsis
Chilean-born performer and writer Iván Monalisa fully embraces his / her dual selves: scrappy, masculine Iván as well as diva, transvestite sex-worker Monalisa. A reunion with filmmaker Nicole Costa, Iván’s former college classmate, provides the opportunity for a journey through this undocumented transgender immigrant’s daily life of sex, drugs, and poetry—as well as a quest for US legalization. Pragmatic and humorous, Iván Monalisa navigates the gritty underbelly of New York City with charisma and charm.
Nicole Costa intersperses recent scenes of Monalisa’s attempts to get a visa and their first successes as a writer with old VHS footage, snippets of telephone conversations, and extracts from their work: beautiful, raw pieces about life and survival in New York.
Reviews
"Iván Monalisa has the talent to endow his characters with vitality and grace, he tells you about their misery as something inevitable, with humor and without turning them into victims. They are stories about survival in the face of Trump's migration policies, with characters who skirt all urban dangers with humor and a lot of solidarity amongst them. They share drugs, pimps, beauty awards, syndromes and delirium, but they are a very close-knit community." — Pedro Almodovar, About Monalisa’s latest book Las Biuty Queens
"Both intimate and gloriously poetic." — New York Women in Film and Television
"The Journey of Monalisa, like its protagonist, transforms scene by scene, experiments with a variety of supports and techniques, escapes the genre's own bonds. It is the continuity of Monalisa's same gesture of freedom. It is a collective struggle: the right to transform, to exercise an identity free from bonds in both life and cinema and poetry." — Caligari, Revista de Cine
"Offers another side of the Chilean trans experience. [...] Monalisa's story will be quite foreign to the average filmgoer, and it's one that urgently deserves to be heard." — Jude Dry, IndieWire
"It effectively describes the inequalities hidden in the New York social structure and the identity discourse of minorities and their survival in the face of brutal violence in the cradle of savage capitalism." — Rodrigo Miranda, El Desconcierto
"Here, subject and artist, and a subject who is an artist, jointly trace a path free of concealment that arouses curiosity, like the infinite braid that Ivan drags through the everyday landscapes of New York life." — Alex Vázquez, La Pistola de Chéjov
"It's a one-of-a-kind film that mixes Monalisa's life and words with movie magic to create an absolute special cinema experience." — Unseen Films
Citation
Main credits
Costa, Nicole (film director)
Costa, Nicole (screenwriter)
Camino, Daniela (film producer)
Camino, Daniela (screenwriter)
Miranda, Melisa (screenwriter)
Ojeda, Iván Monalisa (on-screen participant)
Other credits
Cinematographer, Nicole Costa [and 7 others]; editor, Melisa Miranda; music, Kato Hideki.
Citation
Cataloging
Pragda subjects
Activism
Biography
Culture + Identity
Dance + Performing Arts
Gender + Sexuality Studies
Latinx
Literature
Migration Studies
North America
Sociology
Keywords
Clips
Festivals
Bilbao Festival Zinegoak - Best Documentary Award
FEMCINE
Women Film Festival - Special Jury Prize
RED Encounter of Chile's Film Festivals - Márgenes Award
DocsValparaíso - National Film Award, Best Feature Film
Cinema Tropical Awards - Best U.S. Latinx
LesGaiCineMad - Best Documentary Film
DIRECTOR: Nicole Costa
NATIONALITY: Chile, United States
YEAR: 2019
GENRE: Documentary
LANGUAGE: Spanish
COLOR / B&W: Color
GRADE LEVEL: College, Adults
SUBTITLE/CC: AVAILABLE
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: NOT AVAILABLE
Existing customers, please log in to view this film.
New to Pragda? Register to request a quote.
Related Films
Art21: Borderlands
100 Ways to Cross the Border
Bixa Travesty
Bixa travesty
Stealing Rodin
Robar a Rodin
Skin
Alice Júnior
Jaar. Lament of the Images
JAAR el lamento de las imágenes
Grey City
Cidade cinza
Transit Havana
Calls from Moscow
Llamadas desde Moscú
Vicente Ruiz: In Real Time
Vicente Ruiz: A tiempo real
Naomi Campbell, It's Not Easy to Become a Different Person
Naomi Campbell - No es fácil convertirse en otra persona
Swing and Sway
Vai e vem
Castanha
Marina Abramovic in Brazil: The Space in Between
Zurita, You Will See Not to See
Zurita, verás no ver
Blooming on the Asphalt
Germinio pétalas no asfalto
Related Collections
Spanish Language Films
A cinematic highlight of the magic and diversity of the Spanish language.
Number of titles: 440
SEE COLLECTION >Immigration and Exile
A captivating exploration of migration and exile experiences.
Number of titles: 109
SEE COLLECTION >Women's Voices
These films challenge dominant narratives and offer compelling feminine visions of the region's past, present, and future.
Number of titles: 216
SEE COLLECTION >Literary Inspirations
A collection of films that celebrate the transformative influence of literature on both creators and readers.
Number of titles: 13
SEE COLLECTION >LGBTQ+
An insightful view into the struggles and triumphs of the LGBTQ+ and gender non-conforming community in Latin America and Spain.
Number of titles: 55
SEE COLLECTION >The Pragda Complete Film Collection
The essence of Spain and Latin America captured in their original language with English captions or subtitles.
Number of titles: 637
SEE COLLECTION >Our Essential 100 Titles
A hand-picked selection of our must-have films showcasing the very best of Spanish, Latin American and Latinx cinema.
Number of titles: 100
SEE COLLECTION >Documentary Chronicles
A truthful examination and captivating glimpse into the complexities of the region.
Number of titles: 385
SEE COLLECTION >Latinx Visions
A powerful collection of films that explore the rich cultural tapestry of the Latinx community in the United States.
Number of titles: 44
SEE COLLECTION >The Arts
A fascinating journey into the creative process and the transformative power of artistic expression.
Number of titles: 139
SEE COLLECTION >