Carla Gutierrez (Lima, 1970) was already known in the film industry for being an editor of documentaries, among which are RGB (on the figure of the emblematic American judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg), Chavela (about the singer Chavela Vargas) or Julia (about American chef Julia Child). Her work as an editor earned her an Emmy nomination and an American Film Editors’ Award. However, her passion for the iconic Mexican painter Frida Kahlo has taken her even further. With the documentary FridaGutierrez has made the leap into documentary directing and has done so in an extraordinary way. With a film made through animation and archive material, the Peruvian presents Kahlo narrating her own life through diaries, interviews and real letters.
The documentary, which offers a completely different perspective than anything that had been done before about this 20th-century icon, premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Jonathan Oppenheim Prize for Documentary Editing in the United States and was nominated for the Jury Prize. Now Gutierrez, whose family emigrated from Peru when she was 14, is working on new projects that explore the Latin and immigrant identity in the United States, the country where she grew up and received her professional training.
Ask. How did you make the leap from editing to documentary directing?
Answer. It was the story of Frida Kahlo that inspired me to direct the documentary. It all started with an obsession that I have had since I was 19 years old and I was fixated on a painting of Frida, the Self-portrait on the border between Mexico and the United StatesLike Kahlo and so many other immigrants, my relationship with the United States is complicated and I felt strongly identified by that duality. And then I had an idea that had never been done before: to tell Kahlo’s story in the first person, through her own words. That required the work of putting together many small fragments because she never gave long interviews, and completing a puzzle.
P. Frida Kahlo got back together with Diego Rivera after he was unfaithful with her own sister. Is she really a feminist icon?
R. For me, Frida Kahlo represents real feminism. We are not perfect and strength has to come from recognizing our own flaws. We have to have space to break down. Women often carry their broken hearts silently. We cannot carry everything on our shoulders or respond to everything with strength. Women cannot always act according to what society understands as strong women. Frida loves intensely, even though love is complicated. She is strong and fragile. She says it honestly and openly.
P. Is collapse allowed?
R. Yes, I need it. As a Latina, I have had to have my presence openly questioned at times and have had to be very confident in myself. But I allow myself to break down in a very private way.
P. How was your arrival in the United States?
R. I came to Boston when I was 14, in 1990. Many middle-class people were leaving Peru at the time due to the severe financial crisis. It was hard for me to adapt at first: I missed dancing, celebrating among different generations of my family. But I always say that we were privileged because the whole family came with papers thanks to a scholarship that my father received to study a master’s degree.
P. And they were able to stay.
R. It was a completely different time. My mother was a social worker and there was a high demand for professionals in that sector who were bilingual. She was offered the job green cardThat doesn’t happen anymore.
P. What has it been like for you to grow and develop professionally as a Latina immigrant in the United States?
R. I started to notice how they looked at me, as if I was something very foreign to them. Even in college I received comments like “you are very lucky, you were able to get in because you are Latina,” which made me question my talent. But the truth is that I always liked to identify myself as an immigrant Latina. In some ways it also seems like a chosen identity, a political position.
P. What is the biggest problem facing Latinos, and especially Latinas, in the film industry?
R. There is a huge problem with access. For example, Los Angeles (the mecca of cinema) is a city of Latinos, and yet those who manage to advance in their professional careers in the industry are very few. And even more so in the publishing sector, where I have had a very advanced career. You can count on the fingers of one hand the people who have managed to get far. I was never able to find a Latina mentor; there were no Latinas with enough experience.
P. Are you a mentor now?
R. Yes, I spend a lot of my time helping others. The mentors I had were a very important element in my development as a filmmaker; I learned from them to tell stories from the heart. I owe them a lot. That’s why I’m co-founder of a database of documentary editors from social minorities, Bipoc Editors (an inclusive term referring to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color). We now make data from over 600 Bipoc documentary editors available to filmmakers to help their teams become more inclusive and diverse.
P. Are you planning to return to Peru?
R. Not really, I have lived longer in the United States than in Peru, although it is true that when I go to visit I feel very comfortable, physically I feel like I belong there. But there is a certain beauty in not being from here or there. Here I find the feeling of belonging in some people, with whom I get along very well and who become my home.
P. Are you worried about the November election between Joe Biden and Donald Trump?
R. It saddens me that the immigrant community is talked about with so little understanding and that we are blamed for everything. But that is also what motivates me the most to tell our stories. I am fascinated by the exploration of the Latino identity in this country.
