Barbara Arredondo-Ayala - Luminary Page

Chavela Vargas is one of the most extraordinary figures in the history of Mexican and worldwide music, fierce, queer, uncompromising, a voice like a wound and a wound like a gift. To bring her story to the screen requires producers who can hold the weight of that legacy.

Bárbara brings her interpersonal skills, her passion, her knowledge, and her producing expertise to the Chavela scripted film. The intersection of Aubin's documentary roots and the possibilities of scripted filmmaking is a creative frontier, and she's part of helping us navigate it.

Her Decididas convergence in Mexico City is proof of what can be built when we lead with vision and generosity. She invited me to bring the Chavela documentary into that conversation and created the kind of space that makes good work possible, where people find unusual and profound collaborators, where ideas get sharpened, where culture gets made.