Last year, Trace Lysette made history as the first trans actress to lead a film in competition at the Venice Film Festival. That film is Monica, about a woman returning to her childhood home for the first time since leaving as a teenager. There, Monica (Lysette, of Amazon's Transparent and Hustlers) reconnects with the mother who rejected her during her transition and no longer recognizes her. Patricia Clarkson, a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee for Pieces of April (2003), co-stars as the family's ailing matriarch, Eugenia.

Monica hails from Italian filmmaker Andrea Pallaoro (2017's Hannah) from a script he wrote with Orlando Tirado.

Pallaoro said in a statement, "During the past few years, my mother's illness has compelled me to confront my past and the psychological effects of abandonment. Treading between the interior and exterior, the emotional and physical, Monica explores the complexities of self-worth, the deep-rooted consequences of rejection, and the lengths we go to heal our wounds."

Monica opens in theaters in New York and L.A. on May 12. Watch the trailer below.

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