Chavela is a 2017 American documentary film, directed by Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi."'Chavela': Film Review | Berlin 2017". The Hollywood Reporter, February 12, 2017. The film is a portrait of Mexican singer and actress Chavela Vargas."Review: ‘Chavela’ Recalls the Life of the Ranchera Singer Chavela Vargas". The New York Times, October 3, 2017. Vargas was known for her singing of boleros and behavior on and off the stage. The film covers her identity as a singer and lesbian, something she did not publicly confirm until much later in her life.
The film premiered at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival on February 9, 2017, in the Panorama Dokumente program."Daresha Kyi’s ‘Chavela’ Taken by Latido Films". Variety, February 9, 2017. It was picked up for international distribution by Latido Films.
The film was a GLAAD Media Award nominee for Outstanding Documentary at the 29th GLAAD Media Awards."Netflix Tops GLAAD Media Awards Nominations". Broadcasting & Cable, January 1, 2018. The film was screened at the 2017 Inside Out Film and Video Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best Documentary,"Rebels on Pointe takes best Canadian feature at Inside Out". Playback, June 6, 2017. and at the 2018 Queer North Film Festival, where it won the Audience Choice award for Best Women's Film."pINCO Triangle takes three Queer North awards". Sudbury Star, June 20, 2018. The film also won a Pink Dragon Audience Award for the best film at the 2017 Ljubljana LGBT Film Festival.
Critical reception Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Format The soundtrack for the documentary contains mostly songs performed by Chavela Vargas. The film contains archival interview footage recorded by Catherine Gund. The film breaks from the previous mythification of Chavela Vargas as a unique artistic object.
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