André Kadi & Karine Vézina's HOLA FRIDA is a look at the childhood of Frida Kahlo, of the onset of the illness that would confine her to bed for long periods and the flights of imagination that would inform her painting.
This is the third film in three years from director Kadi whose DOUNIA films played the festival the last two years. It's also the weakest. This isn't to say it's bad, rather it's not as compelling as the earlier films. The reason for this is simple, in the earlier films Kadi had a strong narrative to keep us interested. We were following a young girl as she went from war torn Syria to Canada. Here we have the life of a little girl as she is struck down with polio and recovers. The narrative is very loose and as a the result the film never builds momentum out side of the sequences. Honestly until you get the time jump forward of the day of Kahlo's near fatal bus accident this could have been anyone's story. It also doesn't help that some of the sequences which are wonderful on their own, don't build to anything (The imaginary friend/death sequences, while some of the best sequences in the film seem to belong in a longer different film, here they feel just dropped in. Then again Kadi had issues with the blending of reality and magic in his earlier films)
Again this isn't to say the film is bad, it's not, its a bright and beautiful coming of age tale. The problem, at least for me is that the director's earlier two films were so much more compelling that HOLA suffers from a mental comparrison. I know you aren't supposed to do it, but it happened.
Definitely worth a look.
The other problem with HOLA FRIDA for me was that it played with the short GO MY WAY which kicked me to the curb and made me cry in its seven minutes. The film is the story of a young girl who likes a boy who won't notice her. Her friends suggest she make changes to herself to be noticed only to find she lost herself. She changes back, but it's a magnificently told tale about why we need to be ourselves and not lose ourselves to please other people. It is one of the best films of NYICFF this year and one of my favorites of 2025. I couldn't stop thinking about it during the feature- which isn't a good sign.
The film plays again with HOLA FRIDA and in both the GIRLS POV and HOLA CINE sections which means those are now must sees just because GO MY WAY is in them.
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