''Saint Judy'' is an American

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

directed by

Sean Hanish Sean Hanish is an American film writer, producer and director best known for '' Saint Judy'', ''Return to Zero'' and ''Sister Cities''. Biography Hanish attended the University of Wisconsin, first studying business and later switching to film ...

about Judy Wood, an immigration attorney who changed the law on granting asylum in the United States to save the lives of women. It stars

Michelle Monaghan Michelle Lynn Monaghan ( , born March 23, 1976) is an American actress. She has starred in the films ''Kiss Kiss Bang Bang'' (2005), ''Gone Baby Gone'' (2007), ''Made of Honor'' (2008), ''Eagle Eye'' (2008), ''Trucker (film), Trucker'' (2008), '' ...

and

Alfred Molina Alfred Molina (born Alfredo Molina; 24 May 1953) is a British and American actor. He is known for his leading roles and character actor roles on the stage and screen. In a career spanning over five decades he has received a Drama Desk Award ...

. Molina serves as an executive producer of the film. The screenplay was written by a former intern of Wood. It premiered at the 2018

LA Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episodi ...

. It was released on March 1, 2019, by

Blue Fox Entertainment Blue Fox Entertainment is a global distribution and film sales company founded in 2015 by Todd Slater and James Huntsman. In the spring of 2017, Blue Fox freemasons merged with independent film distributor, Level 33 Entertainment, led by Andreas ...

Plot

''Saint Judy'' tells the story of Los Angeles immigration attorney Judy Wood, who single-handedly changed United States asylum law to include women to be a part of the protected class. Wood's victory is believed by immigration advocates to have saved the lives of tens of thousands of female immigrants around the world. The film starts from her move with her son from New Mexico to Los Angeles so her son can be closer to his dad, her work in an immigration law office, then in her own law office and in particular the case of an Asefa Ashwari, a teacher from Afghanistan facing deportation to her win in the

9th Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts for the following federal judicial districts: * District ...

. It depicts her dedication to her clients over her family.

Cast

as Judy Wood * Judith L. Wood as Herself (Cameo before credits) * Leem Lubany as Asefa *

Common Common may refer to: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Com ...

as Benjamin Adebayo *

Fahim Fazli Fahim Fazli (; born May 30, 1966) is an Afghan American film actor, motivational speaker and author. Fazli is the most successful Afghan-Born American Actor in Hollywood due to the popularity of the Hollywood films he has starred in since 1999. ...

as Taliban Leader *

Peter Krause Peter William Krause (; born August 12, 1965) is an American actor, director, and producer. He has held leading roles across multiple acclaimed television series, portraying Casey McCall on '' Sports Night'' (1998–2000), Nate Fisher on '' Si ...

as Matthew *

Ben Schnetzer Ben Schnetzer is an American actor. He was nominated for two British Independent Film Awards for his performance in the film ''Pride'' (2014). His other films include ''The Book Thief'' (2013), '' The Riot Club'' (2014), and '' The Grizzlies'' ...

as Parker *

Waleed Zuaiter Waleed F. Zuaiter (; born January 16, 1971) is a Palestinian-American actor and producer who has performed in on-stage productions in Washington, D.C.; Berkeley, California; and New York City, as well as several film and television productions. H ...

as Omar *

Mykelti Williamson Mykelti Williamson (; born Michael T. Williamson; March 4, 1957) is an American actor and director best known for his roles in the films ''Forrest Gump'', '' 12 Angry Men'' (1997), ''Con Air'', and '' Ali'', and the television shows ''Boomtown'' ...

as Dikembe Mustafa * Gabriel Bateman as Alex Wood *

Aimee Garcia Aimee Sandimés Garcia López de Ordóñez (born November 28, 1978) is an American actress. She is known for her television roles as Veronica Palmero on the ABC sitcom '' George Lopez'' (2006–2007), Jamie Batista on the Showtime drama '' D ...

as Celi *

Kevin Chapman Kevin Chapman (born July 29, 1962) is an American actor known for playing an assortment of characters ranging from the obnoxious brother Terrence Garrity in FX's ''Rescue Me (American TV series), Rescue Me'' to street enforcer Val Savage in Clin ...

as Officer King *

Gil Birmingham Gilbert Birmingham (born July 13, 1953) is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles as Tribal Chairman Thomas Rainwater on the Paramount Network series ''Yellowstone'' (2018–2024), George Hunter on ''Banshee'' (2014), Vi ...

as Michael Bowman *

as Ray Hernandez *

Alfre Woodard Alfre Woodard ( ; born November 8, 1952) is an American actress. Known for portraying strong-willed and dignified roles on stage and screen, she has received various accolades, including four Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and three Scree ...

as Judge Benton

Production

Principal photography began in May 2017 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Response

Box office

''Saint Judy'' grossed $78,935 in the United States and Canada and $17,277 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $96,212.

Critical reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Festivals and awards

''Saint Judy'' is nominated for an LA Muse award at the Los Angeles Film Festival 2018, Best International Film at London Raindance Film Festival 2018, and a Mind the Gap award at Mill Valley Film Festival 2018. Michelle Monaghan is nominated for Best Performance at London Raindance Film Festival 2018.

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title Films shot in Los Angeles Films shot in California Films set in 2003 2018 films American biographical drama films Films set in Afghanistan 2010s English-language films 2010s American films 2018 biographical drama films English-language biographical drama films