Frida: The girl just doesn’t go away

Festivals & Awards

Synopsis

The Girl Just Doesn’t Go Away! explores the transformation from artist to icon of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, one of the most recognized influencers of our time.

The many representations of her, beyond a single image have been appropriated by diverse groups from Chicanx and Mexican identity, disability to queer representation, just some of the diverse groups within which Frida Kahlo has become an inescapable reference and symbol. An extraordinary and unique phenomenon, Fridamania! Combines the iconic, mythic with an inexhaustible consumer culture.

 We meet Mexican actress Ofelia Medina, the first Frida in the movies; Director Julie Taymor, biographer Hayden Herrera, Chicana artist Amalia Mesa Bains, photographer and great neice Cristina Kahlo, copyright lawyer Adrián Ojeda as well as contemporary artists, art historians, fans of Frida on the streets of Coyoacan, Mexico City, San Francisco and McAllen, Texas, drag queens and impersonators.

How did this phenomenon evolve? What would Frida have thought of seeing the infinite number of incarnations of herself?

Through these different narratives and voices we interweave their stories and explore the complexity of the appropriation of Frida’s image. A playful and reflective journey providing a refreshing perspective on the mythology surrounding Frida Kahlo; not another biopic.