MANUELA Y MANUEL World Cinema: Latin Showcase

Director Raul Marchand Sanchez and screenwriter Jose lgnacio Valenzuela are innovative storytellers with an extraordinary sense of humor and visual flare. They have cleverly molded a delightfully appealing film.

Deep inside, Manuel has always been Manuela. In the middle of her worst love crisis, Manuela reinvents herself as Manuel in order to pass as the fiancee of her best friend Coca-who is pregnant from a one-night stand and must face her conservative family. Hidden identities, misunderstandings, and the tension between two friends pretending to be what they are not, stage a colorful and upbeat story, with gorgeous drag performance to boot.

The fabulous ensemble cast is infectious fun to watch. Brilliantly executed, the film artfully combines the surreal, the comic, the poignant and the tragic, creating a potent film about identities, both hidden and overt. This is the rare farce is as moving as it is hilarious.