Coming to theatres this Friday, December 2: FIRST LADY OF THE REVOLUTION
Andrea Kalin’s profile of a Southern belle turned Central American political figure bowed at Sidewalk Film Festival this Summer. It also has screened at Hot Springs Doc, Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival, and theatrically throughout Costa Rica.
Kalin chronicles the 1948 civil war in Costa Rica that presaged radical changes to the Central American nation from the perspective of one of its most unlikely players: Henrietta Boggs. The young woman, born in South Carolina and later a resident of Alabama, was a college student and aspiring journalist when she visited family in Costa Rica in 1940, met coffee farmer José Figueres, and decided to marry him. Over the next few years, Figueres emerged as popular opposition leader to the repressive government. With Boggs at his side as a pivotal behind-the-scenes advisor and confidante, Figueres fled the country in exile before finally coming to power in the aftermath of the 1948 revolution. Together the couple established a new constitution and government, introducing progressive reforms like the abolishment of the nation’s military which led to unprecedented stability and peace. Kalin has found a very appealing subject around whom to frame a largely forgotten but compelling story.
what (not) to doc 