Tica Transgender Wins Award For Best Actress In Film Festival

COSTA RICA CONFIDENTIAL – Jimena Franco’s dream, now 40, of one day becoming actress has been fulfilled, and, in addition, won the best actress award at the Festival Internacional de Cine de Guayaquil 2017 (Guayaquil International Film Festival 2017) for the lead role in the movie “Abrázame como antes” (Hug Me as before), by Costa Rican filmmaker Jurgen Ureña.

Franco is one of the best-known transgenders in Costa Rica and also owns the Comparsa Nacional Latin Stars for the last 23 years.

In “Abrázame como antes” Jimena plays the role of Verónica, a transgender who prostitutes herself in the streets of the Amón neighborhood, in San José.

Director Ureña, has taken the film to several international film festivals. In Costa Rica, it screened during the local festival, but it is expected that before the end of this month (November) it can be seen in several theaters.

Jimena, who is from Turrialba, talked with La Teja about her life and what the prize won in Ecuador means.

In an interview last month, Jimena said she was sleeping when she got the call from Jurgen to tell her the good news. “After understanding what he was talking about, I became frozen, like for fifteen minutes, in my bed.”

The award has also given Jimena the opportunity to so something nothing ever done before, travel outside of Costa Rica.

Jimena confessed never to have traveled by plane and now, thanks to the promotion for the film, has been in the United States and is currently in Guatemala, along with Jurgen, taking part in the Festival Ícaro de Cine Centroamericano 2017.