The biographic documentary Chavela by Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi on the late Costa Rican-born Mexican singer was the winner of two awards at the 41st edition of Frameline, the San Francisco LGBTQ Film Festival. Chavela received the Audience Award for Best Documentary as well as an Honorable Mention from the documentary jury. "A deeply moving portraiture and a mesmerizing masterful treatment of a complex central character. This macha chanteuse broke all the rules and misogynous conventions riveting audiences in redefining a genre music forever.
Through its lyrical structure, Chavela takes viewers on an evocative, thought-provoking journey through the iconoclastic life of game-changing artist Chavela Vargas. Centered around never before-seen interview footage of Chavela shot 20 years before her death in 2012, and guided by the stories in Chavela’s songs, and the myths and tales others have told about her—as well as those she spread about herself—the film weaves an arresting portrait of a woman who dared to dress, speak, sing, and dream her unique life into being. Chavela will be released in U.S. theaters this fall by the hand of distributor Music Box Films.
The 41st edition of Frameline, the first and oldest film festival in the United States devoted to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer programming took place June 15-25 in San Francisco, California.
