Toward Trans Possibilities: Transgender Storytelling with Isabel Sandoval

Isabel Sandoval is recognized as “one of the most exciting and multitalented filmmakers on the indie scene with a bold approach to cinematic style” by The Criterion Collection. Meanwhile, The Museum of Modern Art has recognized her as a “rarity among the young generation of Filipino filmmakers.”

Her debut feature, Señorita (2011), premiered at Locarno. Her widely acclaimed third feature, Lingua Franca (2019), premiered at Venice and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. Her fourth feature Moonglow premiered at the 2026 Rotterdam Film Festival. She starred in the César Award-winning short film Maria Schneider, 1983, directed by Elisabeth Subrin.

She has been on the festival juries at Cannes, Locarno, BFI London, and Mumbai and is a MacDowell and Yaddo Fellow. She is currently developing her next feature, the 16th-century colonial drama Tropical Gothic, which won a development prize at the 2021 Berlinale Talents Project Market. Her TV directing credits include the Emmy-nominated Under The Banner Of Heaven (2022) starring Andrew Garfield and The Summer I Turned Pretty (2022). She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts Sciences (AMPAS) in the Directors branch.

Moi Santos is the Manager for the Equity, Impact, and Belonging Program at Sundance Institute. She is the founder of the Trans Possibilities Intensive, an incubator program that provides a supportive environment for transgender artists of color to work on their projects, sharpen their craft, develop community and challenge the obstacles that continue to exclude transgender artists of color. Moi was one of the curators for the Queer Rhapsody Film Series, a community-led film series celebrating contemporary LGBTQIA+ cinema. She holds a degree in Ethnic Studies with a concentration in visual culture and gender studies from the University of California, Berkeley.