Whether you are a writer, painter, visual artist, graphic artist, photographer, graffiti connoisseur and the like, telling stories, communicating through a chosen medium is what you do. Argentine filmmaker Julia Solomonoff is the director of The Last Summer of La Boyita, a film that has broken my heart…in the best possible way. I have seen few directors maintain such delicacy while effectively telling stories about subjects so contextually controversial. Solomonoff is no stranger to the director's chair. She teaches film directing at Columbia University, New York, where she earned an MFA in film. Her directorial debut, Sisters (2005) opened at the Toronto International Film Festival. She has produced a number of films for other directors, and was first assistant director on Walter Salles' Motorcycle Diaries (2004). The Last Summer of La Boyita is her most recent film.The film focuses on a little girl named Jorgelina who is played by Guadalupe Alonso. Her sister Luciana (María Clara Merendino) has just entered puberty and predictably seeks independence, solitude and privacy from her indulgent younger sibling, Jorgelina. Addressing the disturbance to the equilibrium of their relationship, Jorgelina in turn leaves behind Luciana as well as la boyita, the little van that bore witness to the girls' secrets and confessions. Instead, Jorgelina chooses to spend the summer in the countryside on her father's farm. There she meets a farm boy and jockey named Mario, played by Nicolás Treise, who she attaches herself to as a playmate. Mario has already started his transition into adolescence and it is eventually revealed that all is not "normal". Mario has female sex organs. At birth, medical professionals misidentified an enlarged clitoris for a penis and recorded the birth of a male baby. As his body changes and he continues to grow breasts and experience menstruation, he also suffers abuse and neglect from his father who does not fully comprehend the possibilities and ramifications of such a medical situation. The film climaxes at the races where Mario has to face tradition and test his manhood. If he wins, he has the chance to quell the growing prejudice of the other boys as well as prove to his father that he does possess worth, no matter what is happening underneath his clothes. Through the friendship between Mario and Jorgelina, the beauty, kindness and innocence of children and childhood are portrayed. The Last Summer of La Boyita is both a coming of age tale as well as a tribute to those qualities of pre pubescence. Set in the magnificent Pampas prairies, the film is visually stunning. More than that, it is emotionally exquisite. Somonoff's telling of this story though Jorgelina's eyes, as she attempts to understand what Mario is going through, is quite masterful and the bittersweet nuances of the protagonists' experiences finds a way into your heart and mind and will stay with you for days.

La boyita deals with a sensitive subject with noblesse oblige. Jorgelina, a nine year old girl who is just as annoying to her older sister as my sister was to me at times, also encapsulates the contradictions of life that enable her to be at the same time wonderfully caring and understanding when she discovers that a boy who works for her father has a serious and difficult to live with secret. This film, which employed a largely non professional cast, with a tiny crew, on an even smaller budget, manages to pull off what many big budget Hollywood productions have tried and failed. It has taken a painful and socially difficult issue and presented it in a believable and non judgemental way, and without histrionics or excess of drum-banging. Naturally and appropriately acted by all. I would though, have been interested to see more made of the Jewish element; Jorgelina's Judaism is only mentioned once.

The Last Summer of La Boyita (2009) is the U.S. title of this film from Argentina. The original version of the title is El último verano de la Boyita. It's written and directed by Julia SolomonoffThis is a powerful movie for several reasons. It's a coming of age film, and it's a film about the significance of being considered male vs. female. Assigning gender is of great importance in any culture. It's of enormous significance in a rural Latin American culture. Guadalupe Alonso plays a young city girl, Jorgelina, whose family has a working ranch to which they go for vacation. Nicolás Treise plays Mario--a kind, gentle young man who works on the ranch and rides horses amazingly well.The relationship between Jorgelina and Mario forms the basis of the plot, and it would better to urge you to see the film, rather than to have me give more details.The acting overall is excellent, and the two leads are outstanding. How director Solomonoff obtained such subtle acting from two non-professionals is beyond my grasp. However, she did it.A third powerful aspect of this movie is its sense of place--the Pampas of Argentina. That virtue of the film will be partially lost on the small screen, unfortunately. We saw the movie in the Dryden Theatre at the outstanding ImageOut, the Rochester Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.