Nicolas Echevarria Movies

At once a portrait of an extraordinary individual and a meditation on the power of the human spirit in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, Eva Norvind's biographical documentary Born Without introduces the audience to José Flores. Though born sans limbs (hence the title), Flores decided early on never to let this stop him from enjoying life; he quickly amassed an unshakable level of confidence and engaged in musical performance by blowing on a harmonica fixed to his head and turning kitchen utensils into percussive instruments with his feet. Flores also enjoyed a unique career as a screen actor, essaying parts in films by such noted directors as Alejandro Jodorowsky (The Holy Mountain, 1973) and Nicolas Echevarria (Cabeza de Vaca, 1991) and - incredibly - chalked up one of the most active love lives imaginable, with not only a myriad of mistresses, but a devoted wife and seven children. Director Norvind (a Scandinavian sexologist) died in 2006, during production of the film - prompting her daughter Nailea to finish it. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

In this low-budget German documentary, filmmaker Monika Treut profiles Norwegian-born actress-sex therapist Eva Norvind. Born in 1944 as Eva Johanne Chegodayeva Sakonskaya, daughter of a Russian prince and a Finnish sculptress, she studied in New York and was penniless when she traveled to Mexico during the '60s. As Eva Norvind, she found roles in Mexican "B"-movies (Tonight No, Jan Pistoles, Blood Pact), dropped out of sight, had a daughter, and returned to NYC to study film at NYU. Her S&M experiments put her in a dominatrix mood, and she launched her own company in 1987, promoting her $300 sessions on TV ("out of the dungeon and into the classroom"), moving on to embrace academia and criminal psychology before adding explorations into religion and philosophy. Interview subjects (Eva, a psychiatrist, family, friends, film associates) are seen in a video-to-16mm transfer. Shown at the 1998 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi