New on VOD via Google Play and VUDU this week:
THE SWIRL (EL REMOLINO)
Director:
Laura Herrero Garvín
Premiere:
Ambulante 2016
Select Festivals:
Locarno, Camden, Washington DC Environmental, DocsMX, Oaxaca, Morelia
About:
A trans farmer and her sister navigate life in an oft-flooded Chiapas village.
The small community of El Remolino – literally translated as “the swirl” – annually faces extreme flooding, located as it is along a raging river in Chiapas, Mexico. Trying to maintain their precarious existence here are Esther, a mother who documents her life via camcorder, and Pedro, her openly MTF transgender sister, a farmer. Garvín’s observational slice-of-life portrait is well made, presenting her subjects as fleshed out individuals while also taking on larger social issues that have an ongoing impact on their lives, from climate change to gender and sexuality.
what (not) to doc 