Sundance 2024: Frida, a documentary based on the painter’s letters, wins award
Sundance 2024: Frida, a documentary based on the painter’s letters, wins award. The feature film was made by Mexican Carla Gutiérrez and is a retelling of the life of this iconic artist.
By Megan Sauer
A very kind year for Mexican cinema. Sundance 2024 has concluded and with the closing came its awards ceremony.
This year the documentary Frida, by the Mexican Carla Gutierrez, won an editing award for this elaborate story about the life of the painter Frida Kahlo. This is the second title made with compatriots to be awarded in this event.
What is it about and what award did the documentary Frida win at Sundance 2024?
Returning to her letters, diaries and essays, Frida is the account of the life of the well-known Mexican painter.
From her school years to her last days in the mid-1950s. The romance between her and Diego Rivera, as well as the chronic health and pain problems left by her tram accident are some of her recurring themes.
The film combines archival material, such as photographs and videos, with animated recreations of his most famous works. Frida won the Jonathan Oppenheim Award for Editing in the American Documentary category at Sundance 2024.
The recognition, which makes sense given the work of editing all the aforementioned material, goes to Gutierrez, who in fact debuts as a filmmaker with this feature film after several years as an editor. She worked, most notably, on RBG.
As for the documentary, although at times it loses focus, the animated segments, in which Kahlo’s self-portraits acquire movement, stand out for helping guide the eye to the details of each work.
Although the importance that artistic expression had for the painter is detailed, the story focuses more on narrating her life rather than reviewing her pictography.
When and where can the documentary Frida be seen?
Fortunately for those who like the work of Frida Kahlo , the documentary is an original production by Amazon Studios. And the film is expected to arrive on Prime Video, globally, starting March 15.
It is unknown if there are plans for even a limited theatrical release that could exploit the visual resources of animation for the enjoyment of the public.
Unfortunately, there is no trailer to share with you yet, but we will surely be seeing a teaser in the weeks to come. Remember that Frida’s file already has a critical score if they want to read more about this title.
The other Mexican title that won at the festival was the drama Sujo. Directed by Fernanda Valadez , it is a fiction about the titular character, a young man who is orphaned as a child, when his father, a hitman, dies at the hands of organized crime.
This film took the honor of the Grand Jury Prize for International Drama.
