EL NORTE (1983) was the first of its kind: a contemporary drama detailing a brother and sister’s escape from persecution in Guatemala, and their journey north through Mexico to find work in Los Angeles—told from the siblings point of view. This landmark of American independent cinema has been restored by the Academy Film Archive, and will screen this week at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
During filming in Mexico, footage was seized at gunpoint, and an accountant was held for ransom. Following the screening, writer/director Gregory Nava, writer/producer Anna Thomas, and the film’s stars Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez and David Villalpando will participate in a panel discussion about the making of the film, and how times have changed and not changed since then.
EL NORTE, Monday, December 11, at 7:30 pm.
SAMUEL GOLDWYN THEATER, A.M.P.A.S., 8949 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills.
David Villalpando and Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez in El Norte (1983).
