TRUE/FALSE FILM FESTIVAL 2026 REVIEW! A cinema verité slice of life documentary from Buenos Aires, Cuidadoras explores the working lives and relationships developed by the three caregivers of a nursing home. The subjects of co-writers/co-directors Martina Matzkin and Gabriella Ouassouf’s documentary, Maia Artesana, Yenefer Franco Pereira, and Luciana Méndez, who are transgender, having transitioned in their youth. Underpaid, and given a massive pile of responsibilities in caring for the elderly residents of this home. These caregivers (which is what the title means) demonstrate remarkable grace under pressure.
In their interactions with the elderly population they serve, the cuidadoras are shown doing all the nice and supportive activities that keep the elderly from losing their grip on reality. Standout moments include Yenefer discussing her waist-length hair, Luciana and her doting on Vicky – a 90-year-old spitfire – and Maia discussing her intention to train as a nurse. These aspirations and achievements do a great service to trans visibility. Concentrating cuidadoras more on their interpersonal relationships, and their vocation grounds the nature of these three ladies. I found this to be a languidly paced, but thoroughly absorbing narrative. Which makes sense, dear reader, when you recognize that the location of cuidadoras is a nursing home. We never see anything outside the nursing home. This was a brilliant decision by the writing/directing team to isolate the action of cuidadoras to the places where these three ladies work a great many hours each day.
“The subjects…are transgender and have transitioned in their youth.”
Matzkin and Uassouf are very good at team writing and directing. Cuidadoras is unforced and allowed to putter at the pace of an old man relearning how to walk after hip surgery. The film is shot in stunning digital video 24 frame perfection. The color is eye-popping, much like the wild selections that most of the ladies request Luciana to paint their fingernails with. If I could, I would extol the realism of the film for many paragraphs, dear reader. However, as this is a film review, I would simply urge you to check this one out.
Cuidadoras, in a gentle, non-confrontational way, explores the bigotry against Trans women. Several of the old timers refer to Yenefer as ‘he’. While there is always someone these days who will correct that gender faux pas, it’s clear some people just won’t reconcile to the notion that people sometimes change genders when they come of age. This is handled in a most graceful way, and oftentimes the caregiver being misgendered just shrugs it off. Sometimes, it’s quite difficult to work with the elderly. There’s one scene where Luciana is tasked with helping Vicky eat dinner. But Vicky doesn’t want to eat. Vicky wants to stare at this makeup mirror and let her mind wander. So we watch Luciana, with great patience, attempt to discern what Vicky would actually want to do. While there is no resolution to that scene, it’s a common one that you see with older relatives. You may ask Grandma what she wants to do, and she will simply stare off into space, mildly nodding off.
So I tell you, dear reader, Cuidadoras is a beautiful expression of life. Here, all the people in society congregate and seek to live and find purpose and meaning in their lives. Seek out Cuidadoras if you want to see a positive film about the real lives of trans women.
"…a positive film about the real lives of trans women."
