A proud transgender sex worker since the age of eleven, Luana Muniz, now fifty-nine, shapes a new reality in her “hostel” by housing a new generation of transgender sex workers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Queen of Lapa explores the day-to-day lives, rivalries, and quests for love of sex workers, as Muniz’s guides them in a city full of hostility towards its LGBTQ community.
Carolina Monnerat
Carolina grew up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and began a professional Ballet career when she was just thirteen. As a dancer, she has toured the world, first as a ballerina, then as a modern dancer, bringing her to the United States to dance for Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, a modern contemporary African American dance company. While there, Carolina performed as a soloist, company member and rehearsal director for over ten years. Her artistry has stretched across countries, nationalities and races to inspire wordless beauty and harmony. In 2011, Monnerat retired from dance and produced On Point and Move, two dance films that played the festival circuit. She went on to produce multiple features and short films with her husband Theodore Collatos. Her producing credits include Dipso (2013), Time (2013), and Albatross (2014). In 2017 Monnerat produced and acted in Tormenting the Hen, leading to her inclusion in Film Pulse’s Best Performances of 2017. In addition to her film work, Carolina is a Senior Curator for Lululemon Athletica. Queen of Lapa is Monnerat’s feature documentary debut.
Theodore Collatos
Theodore began his career as an award-winning street photographer, which grew organically into documentary, experimental and dramatic filmmaking; often with his producer and wife Carolina Monnerat. Most recently, his feature Tormenting the Hen won the Duncan-Williams Scriptwriting Award at the Indie Memphis Film Festival in 2017. The film was featured in The Hollywood Reporter, Filmmaker Magazine, Indiewire and was theatrically released in New York and Chicago. His Massachusetts State Grant-winning film Dipso (2013) premiered in competition at EntreVues Belfort Festival du Film, won Best Film at The Athens Film Festival, and was released theatrically in New Orleans and Massachusetts. Queen of Lapa, a documentary directed together with Monnerat in Rio de Janeiro was a Creative Capital grant finalist in 2018. Past award-winning shorts include Time, Albatross, and Truth with Wine, a Nitehawk Short Film Festival winner. Collatos is also a features programmer at The Bushwick Film Festival, and a commercial director whose clients include Lululemon Athletica, The United Nations, Think Human, Dentons Venture Technology and Fox Rothschild LLP.