Saint Judy

Saint Judy is an American biographical drama film directed by Sean Hanish 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 and Alfred Molina.^[2] Molina serves as an executive producer of the film.^[3] The screenplay was written by a former intern of Wood.^[4] It premiered at the 2018 LA Film Festival.^[5] It was released on March 1, 2019, by Blue Fox Entertainment.

Saint Judy
Film poster
Directed by	Sean Hanish
Screenplay by	Dmitry Portnoy
Produced by	Paul Jaconi-Biery Sean Hanish
Starring	Michelle Monaghan Leem Lubany Common Peter Krause Ben Schnetzer Waleed Zuaiter Mykelti Williamson Gabriel Bateman Kevin Chapman Aimee Garcia Alfred Molina Alfre Woodard Fahim Fazli
Cinematography	Richard Wong
Edited by	Anita Brandt-Burgoyne
Production company	Cannonball Productions
Distributed by	Blue Fox Entertainment
Release dates	September 22, 2018 (2018-09-22) (LAFF) March 1, 2019 (2019-03-01) (United States)
Running time	107 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$96,212[1]

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

Cast

• Michelle Monaghan as Judy Wood
• Judith L. Wood as Herself (Cameo before credits)
• Leem Lubany as Asefa
• Common^[6] as Benjamin Adebayo
• Fahim Fazli as Taliban Leader
• Peter Krause as Matthew
• Ben Schnetzer as Parker
• Waleed Zuaiter as Omar
• Mykelti Williamson as Dikembe Mustafa
• Gabriel Bateman as Alex Wood
• Aimee Garcia as Celi
• Kevin Chapman as Officer King
• Gil Birmingham as Michael Bowman
• Alfred Molina as Ray Hernandez
• Alfre Woodard as Judge Benton^[7]

Production

Principal photography began in May 2017 in Los Angeles.^[8][9]

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.^[1]

Critical reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 67% based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10.^[10] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[11]

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.