Jenny Schweitzer's Simple Success

A successful documentary is a simple film that provides a platform for the interviewees to tell their own stories.

Jenny Schweitzer's Flor de Toloache does just that for an all-female mariachi band, casting light upon their response to the machismo that characterizes the genre.

Flor de Toloache is part of Schweitzer's Rhythm in Motion, a ten part series of short documentaries about the musicians who busk in New York City's subway system. Traditionally, mariachi bands are dominated by men. Flor de Toloache, the band featured in the eponymous film, runs against that macho grain by featuring an all-women line-up.

Flor de Toloache exists within the broader context of international patriarchy and the ways in which such social structures limit women's opportunities. By simply allowing the interviewees to describe the problem and their solution for it, Schweitzer creates a compelling and positive movie.

Rather than focus on herself as a filmmaker, or even upon the individuals interviewed, Schweitzer's Flor de Toloache allows the expert interviewees to interpret a cultural event for us. The event is not isolated: it exists within a social structure that we all participate in. Flor de Toloache is an educational documentary that is well-made because it is made simply.