El Norte Re-Releases in 200 Theatres Nationwide on Sunday Sept 15, 2:00 PM
By Luis Reyes
Oscar nominated Director/Writer Gregory Nava (Selena, My Family, Mi Familia) talks about his 1985 classic landmark film El Norte [The North, Central America immigrants refer to the USA] in an Exclusive edited interview with Latin Heat Entertainment on the occasion of its upcoming 35th anniversary release on Sunday Sept 15th at 2:00 P.M.
El Norte will be re-releasing by Lionsgate thru Fathom Events which is an entertainment content provider that broadcasts entertainment events/screenings in movie theaters throughout the US . Fathom will be releasing El Norte in 200 select theatres nationwide.
Nava was inspired to make the film as a young man fresh out of UCLA Film School. “I was born and raised on the border [San Diego] and I saw people crossing all the time, leaving violent oppression and poverty behind, looking for that beacon of freedom, and that is what gave me the idea of making the film… giving voice to the voiceless.”
When Nava and producer/writer Anna Thomas were looking for funding, they consciously did not pursue film studios or television networks because, more than likely, studio executives would demand changes be made in either script, casting, or both. Nava and Thomas believe that much of what makes El Norte special would have been jeopardized if a major studio had been involved in the filmmaking process. Their steadfast believes lead to an Academy Award nomination for Best original screenplay.
When asked if El Norte is more relevant today than when it was first made? Nava responded:
“Sadly it is. It was a horrific crisis when we made the film 35 years ago. The impact of the film was very strong in its time [1985]. It contributed to the US government granting protective status to refugees from Central America and saved thousands of lives. It’s the thing that I am proudest of as a filmmaker.”
He further said, “It was nominated for an Oscar (for Best Original Screenplay) and yes, but I am proudest that it actually helped save lives.” He adds, “Now things have regressed yet again, hatred of Immigrants is back, the situation on the southern border is tragic, children are being put in cages, families are being separated. The message of compassion of El Norte is really more important today than when we made the film.”
El Norte is the film story of a young immigrant brother and sister, Enrique and Rosa fleeing poverty and violence in their Guatemalan homeland. Making the difficult trek through Mexico to the US they encounter many hurdles including crawling through a horrendous rat infested sewer tunnel on the Tijuana/ San Diego border and further trials and tribulations upon their arrival in Los Angeles.
“David Villapando as Enrigue and Zaida Silvia Gutierrez as Rosa, their performances are the heart of El Norte. They made film audiences the world over fall in love with their characters.” says Nava. “We were all very young and on fire and that fire still burns.”
The Oscar nominee, like other directors, uses many of the same actors, a sort of stock company, in his films, especially the late Lupe Ontiveros. who plays Nacha in this film, the woman who befriends Rosa upon her arrival in Los Angeles. He remarks, “I used Lupe Ontiveros three times, she’s such a great actress. She could have been a great star. Nacha in El Norte and Yolanda Saldivar in Selena, these are both amazing performances and completely different. We have such great talent and I love using great wonderful actors,” comments the director.
The film also features performances by Ernesto Gomez Cruz, Enrique Castillo, Mike Gomez, Tony Plana and the late Trinidad Silva.
The independent film was shot in the indigenous communities of Chiapas and Michoacan, Mexico doubling for the Guatemalan Mayan highlands, since the country was in the midst of a Civil war, making filming prohibitive. Additional filming took place along the border in San Diego and in Los Angeles.
The Academy of Motion Pictures recently restored the film from its original negative with modern digital technology and to see it on the big screen, El Norte looks brand new, as if it had been made today, not thirty-five years ago.
When the film originally release in 1983 Variety called it the “first United American independent epic”, the first American independent film to be so honored
Vincent Canby, writing for The New York Times, signaled out the two leads as “straight, unactorly quality of the performances, especially by Zaide Silvia Gutierrez as Rosa and David Villalpando as Enrique, two splendid Mexican actors.”
In 1995, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
Asked a final question on what the significance of this 35th anniversary Fathom Event release of El Norte means to him? Nava said.
“If all the theatres are full on September 15th, showing all across the country, we hope it sends a message to Hollywood that we want movies that are beautiful and compassionate and tell the truth about our community, not about Narcos, and also send a message to our president that we want compassion not cruelty.”
Nava and Fanthom Events have announced that profits earned by El Norte from the September 15th screening of El Norte will be donated to the Fundacion Communitarian Paso Del Norte to help the El Paso mass shooting victims.