VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Carla Gutierrez Reflects On Her Documentary ‘Frida’ And What Made Frida Kahlo An Outsider

Director Carla Gutierrez spoke about her new documentary Frida in her new uInterview.

The documentary that follows the iconic painter Frida Kahlo explores the artist’s life through her own words, using diaries, letters, essays, and interviews.

When asked what she learned about Kahlo from the production, Gutierrez told uInterview founder Erik Meers, “I feel like I really knew all the details of her; there was not much that really surprised me when we were doing the research – in terms of facts. But what really surprised me was this opportunity to really hear about her emotions in a very deep, personal way. So to really hear the texture of her person, the texture of her personality, the texture of her essence and her spirit—that was surprising, being able to see her in a very fragile way sometimes, or a very messy way, a very insecure way.”

Gutierrez added, “It was that closeness to her actual voice that gave me a much deeper understanding, and closeness to her that made me love her more in all her messiness and all her complexity.”

Gutierrez noted the artist’s outspoken demeanor as what made Kahlo so timeless. “She was just painting out of that feeling of having to express her own emotions. And she talks about it, like, ‘I paint my own reality, I do not paint my dreams.'”

Kahlo is known as an “icon of female creativity” in the feminist movement in the 1970s due to her independence and rebellion against feminine norms. Gutierrez speculated on Kahlo’s progressive mindset and how it separated her from society. 

“I think that from the very beginning, Frida was not able and did not want to contain her voice – what she thought, even though maybe it went against – for example, the Catholic world she was living I – she always had questions about the world and she always asked those questions. And that was the essence of her spirit. I always thought about her as a rebellious voice because she was so honest in the way that she communicated her desires, even her pleasure, from really early on; she just let everything out.”

Gutierrez continued, “She was always so true to herself – her gender fluidity, throughout her entire life, was very public, her bisexuality – you know, she was showing it in the paintings. So what made her an outsider was that she said what she felt and went for what attracted her.”

Gutierrez added, “And a lot of times we don’t do that, we stop ourselves, we try not to listen to the organic desires we have. We don’t always follow our curiosity, and she always did. And that was so special about her that she went for it all the time.”

Frida can be rented or purchased on Apple TV, Google Play Movies and Vudu now.