Out of Competition

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF FRIDA KAHLO



Amy Stechler

Country of production: USA
Year: 2004
Language: English, Spanish
Mins: 86

Production company: Daylights Films
Producer: Amy Stechler
Cinematography: Buddy Squires
Editing: Amy Stechler
Sound: George Schafracker
Music: Jeanine Cowen

Source: Daylights Films
267 Park Place 4E
Brooklyn NY 11238, USA
Tel: 718-638-9538
Fax: 718-638-5855


The great Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907 -1954) gracefully balanced a private life of illness and pain against a public persona that was flamboyant and irreverent. Kahlo was an eyewitness to a unique pairing of revolution and renaissance that defined the times in which she lived. Through the prism of her life and art, the film explores the ancient culture of Mexico; the Mexican Revolution; the popularity of Latin American communism; and the innovators in painting, photography filmmaking, writing and poetry who congregated in her yellow kitchen. Kahlo is best known for dozens of self-portraits through which she tells the story of her dramatic life. She was severely injured in a bus accident at 18, and her paintings reflect the debilitating effects she endured for the rest of her life: 35 operations, body casts, metal corsets, constant pain and the inability to bear a child. Kahlo’s work also reflects her passionate love affairs and her turbulent marriage to Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. Filmmaker Amy Stechler was granted unprecedented access to photographs, paintings, newsreels and home movies, many of which have never been published or broadcast.

Amy Stechler co-produced, wrote and edited the early films of Ken Burns, including A Brooklyn Bridge (nominated for an Academy Award), The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God and Huey Long. She also served as an editing consultant for The Civil War. Stechler is president of Daylight Films.

Filmography:

LIFE AND TIMES OF FRIDA KAHLO (2004)

THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2005 AT 10.00 PM. / CHOPIN THEATRE
FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 2005 AT 2.30 PM. / CHOPIN THEATRE