52 Films by Women Vol 2. 48. MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND (Director: Ana Asensio)
In the film industry, as in many creative areas, it is not enough to complain that you aren’t given the opportunities to showcase your talent. You have to make those opportunities yourself. Actress turned writer-director Ana Asensio (born in Madrid in April 1981, but now based in Brooklyn, NY) did just that. She made her feature debut, Most Beautiful Island , about what she knows - being an invisible - that’s my word, not hers. By invisible, I mean the countless foreign workers in menial jobs barely making rent money who scratch a living alongside the successful. What separates them? Respect! If you give someone regular employment, they have a title - executive assistant, customer service professional, whatever. If you put people on the end of a telephone, waiting for an assignment, they have no respect. If you give them a few hours of work, but not enough to make a living, that’s not respect. Luciana, played by Asensio, is such a woman. She owes rent. She has multiple jobs. She ...