Revisiting memories captured on old VHS tapes, Máxima Mauricio, an Argentinian sex worker, longs for her golden days in Miami while confronting the ghosts of a childhood marked by neglect and abuse. As she comes to terms with her past, she finds strength in the urgent needs of her friends and the trans community, which propel her forward.
In her second feature film, Nicole Costa delves into themes similar to her debut: Latin American immigration to the United States, home videos that illuminate a 1990s counterculture, the chaos of everyday life, and a trans community attempting to resist in a context where it is always under threat. The footage is filmed by Máxima Mauricio, an Argentinian sex worker who, after years of living in Miami, arrives in New York to try her luck once again. The injustice and prejudice against migrants and trans people are laid bare in the film. In contrast to the more playful and extravagant nature of 'Monalisa's Journey,' 'No Money No Honey' presents a harsher perspective on the passage of time, precariousness, and the ways in which a community confronts a future that doesn't always offer much certainty, while the ghosts of the past slowly resurface.
Javiera Leal, FIDOCS programmer 30
Nicole Costa es una actriz, cineasta y productora chilena radicada en Nueva York. Su trabajo se centra en la autoría, la memoria y la ternura radical. En SANFIC 2018 debutó como codirectora con el corto ‘Danger & Alone’. Su primer largometraje, ‘El viaje de Monalisa’ (2019), tuvo su estreno mundial en FICValdivia y proyecciones en festivales internacionales como DOC NYC, IDFA y DocsBarcelona. En 2020 recibió el premio a Mejor Documental en Zinegoak, en España, y el reconocimiento a Mejor Película Latinx de Estados Unidos otorgado por Cinema Tropical en 2021. Ese mismo año dirigió el cortometraje ‘Cómo se hizo Tremün’.