Chavela
Chavela • 1h 33m
Directed by Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi • 2017 • Mexico
Starring Chavela Vargas, Pedro Almodóvar, Miguel Bosé
CHAVELA is a captivating look at the unconventional life of beloved performer Chavela Vargas, known for her passionate renditions of Mexican popular music. The world-famous singer was a gun-toting, tequila-loving, macho butch rumored to have had dalliances with Frida Kahlo and Ava Gardner. The toast of Mexico City in the 1960s and ’70s, Vargas fell into obscurity in the 1980s, before a triumphant return to the world stage as muse to Pedro Almodóvar—culminating in her Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys in 2007. Friends, colleagues, and ex-lovers discuss her legacy in this documentary packed with amazing archival material, a joy to watch from the first frame to the last.