Music Box Films Announces CHAVELA on DVD & VOD 1/2/17

Music Box Films Home Entertainment has announced today the nationwide debut of the captivating documentary, CHAVELA, on January 2, 2018 via VOD (iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Instant, Vudu and YouTube) and DVD with special bonus features.

CHAVELA presents an evocative look at the unconventional life of beloved singer Vargas, whose impassioned renditions of Mexican popular music and triumphant return to the stage late in life brought her international fame. Directed and produced by Catherine Gund and Kyi, CHAVELA is filled with vintage clips, stills, and performances, alongside interviews with and her contemporaries, colleagues and partners. Together, they present an evocative portrait of one of the Latin world's most charismatic and trailblazing artists.

Born in Costa Rica in 1919, Vargas ran away to Mexico City as a teenager to sing in the streets. By the 1950s, she gained a name for herself in Mexico, and later worldwide, chiefly for her unique and passionate interpretation of "rancheras," traditional Mexican songs that speak frequently about love. Just as influential were her cultural contributions- was a bold and rebellious sexual pioneer who was known for having many female lovers at a time when being outwardly gay in Mexico was dangerous.

CHAVELA centers around a 1991 interview--the singer's first public appearance after 15 hard years lost to alcoholism and heartbreak. In the final years of her life, openly comes out as a lesbian and rises into her momentous third act, becoming a muse to filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar earning a Lifetime Achievement Grammy, and selling out performances at prestigious concert halls around the world before her death in 2012 at the age of 93.