Princesa

From Ken Loach's regular producers at Parallax Pictures, this is a highly effective amalgam of gritty social document and emotive melodrama. Set among Brazilian transvestite prostitutes working the streets of Milan, it follows newcomer de Souza as her dreams of family life edge closer when (s)he begins a relationship with a married Italian businessman. Ultimately, though happiness may be built upon securing a sense of sexual identity. Is a full sex-change operation the answer? Filled with raucous humour and memorable non-professional performers, Goldman's film shows a powerfully moving humanity by revealing universal dilemmas in the seediest of surroundings.