One of my recent favorite films is Lingua Franca from, written by, directed by and Isabel Sandoval a Filipina trans woman, so because of that I decided to track down her previous work and I put on Senorita from 2011. 

A bit rougher around the edges than Lingua Franca of course, but Sandoval’s performance as the protagonist femme fatale is amazing, and it’s nature as a story about transfeminity while also being an intriguing Neo noir political thriller, makes it genuinely one of the most confident debut films I’ve ever seen.