Isabel Castro: It’s so surreal and overwhelming, and actually makes me need to cry each time I give it some thought. It’s simply been so shifting seeing folks’s response movies; I’ve been mendacity down on the sofa all day, compulsively watching all of the movies individuals are posting. It’s very thrilling.
What sparked the concept to make a documentary about Selena Quintanilla and her household?
I made a movie known as Mija that premiered at Sundance in 2022 and tells the story of two Latina ladies who’re making an attempt to make it within the music trade, and concurrently and form of cosmically, the Quintanilla household had determined that they have been able to share their archive and inform their story. We have been curious about making a documentary, and so they had been in search of a director for a while. As a Latina, my work offers rather a lot with points round identification and the Latino wrestle in the USA, and the household noticed my physique of labor and realized I could be an excellent match.
I grew up with Selena. I’m a Mexican immigrant who grew up in a really white group, and by no means felt completely like I belonged precisely to at least one tradition or one other. Once I noticed the movie Selena once I was youthful, it actually sparked one thing in me and form of made me really feel pleased with being somebody who occupied two worlds. Selena actually taught me to be unapologetic about that. There’s this nice scene within the documentary the place she’s form of tripping over her Spanish, and I simply associated to that so personally. Once I was reached out to about this chance, I clearly misplaced my thoughts; we went all the way down to Corpus Christi [Texas] to satisfy the household, and the remainder is historical past, so to talk.
Picture: Courtesy of Netflix
Picture: Courtesy of Netflix
What was it like attending to know the Quintanilla household?
Initially I used to be overwhelmed and scared, in the way in which that you’d be scared to satisfy a star. I’ve such reverence for them that it was daunting to satisfy them in particular person. However over the course of two years, me and my producer would travel to Corpus Christi to digitize all of the archives. We spent a complete of six months in Corpus Christi, so we actually received to spend time with the household, and so they went from being this extremely legendary household that’s symbolic of a lot energy within the Latino group to a household that I received to know on a deeply private stage. I used to be form of stunned by how personable and humble and beneficiant and heat they have been.
