Shangri-La
directed by Isabel Sandoval

SHANGRI-LA, directed, written & edited by Isabel Sandoval, is the 21st commission from Miu Miu Women’s Tales. The acclaimed short-film series invites today’s most profound and original female directors to investigate vanity and femininity in the 21st century.

It’s California, during the Great Depression. A woman is confiding her most intimate thoughts in a church confessional, while the man on the other side listens silently and intently. But this is no ordinary religious ritual seeking salvation. The woman — a second generation Filipino farmhand — is rapt in roleplay reverie, her sensuous words aimed at her white American lover, during a historic period when such interracial relationships were forbidden by state law. The confession box transforms into a romantic time machine, ecstatic and melancholic, traveling into alternate futures. She manifests as multiple, dazzling women, and they can love freely.

“I was stunned, honored, and privileged,” says Isabel, “to be invited to direct the next Miu Miu Women’s Tales.” Shangri-La becomes a fantasy showcase of the latest Miu Miu collection. “I regard costumes as an expression of the lead character’s potential as a woman,” Isabel explains, “where she envisions herself as a warrior, princess or goddess.” All these looks allow the protagonist to feel, “power, allure, ambition and strength.”