Frida

Frida, directed by Carla Gutiérrez, is an animated documentary that turns painter Frida Kahlo's own diary, letters, essays, and interviews into a first-person narrative. Forty eight of Kahlo's original paintings and thirteen illustrations from her diary are brought to life through animation and woven together with black and white archival footage. Kahlo's words are voiced in the film by Mexican voice actress Fernanda Echevarría del Rivero; although a disputed archival recording claimed to be Kahlo's own voice exists, the filmmakers chose not to use it given its uncertain authenticity. The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won an editing award. Who it's for: anyone curious about a documentary that tells an artist's life entirely through her own written words and animated paintings, without an outside narrator's voice. Who it's not for: those expecting to hear Kahlo's actual recorded voice, since the filmmakers deliberately avoided a disputed archival recording in favor of a voice actress.