Selena y Los Dinos – Hot Docs 2025
April 24 to May 4, 2025
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The tragically short career of the “Queen of Tejano Music” is recollected in Selena y Los Dinos. Selena Quintanilla was the youngest daughter of Mexican-American musician Abraham Quintanilla. Beginning at the age of 6, Selena began singing in the band Los Dinos, which also included her older siblings A.B. and Suzette. Initially, the house band in the family’s Mexican restaurant, Selena and Los Dinos, would gain notoriety in the 1980s for their performance of Mexican Tejano and Cumbia music. Selena’s star would continue to rise in the 1990s, winning the Grammy for Best Mexican/American album. However, Selena would be tragically gunned down in March 1995, just months before the release of her debut English-language album “Dreaming of You.”
Selena y Los Dinos Synopsis
Selena y Los Dinos is a biographical documentary about Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla, directed by Isabel Castro (Mija). The film is constructed predominantly of archival footage and interviews of Selena, accompanied by new interviews with the Quintanilla family, including father Abraham, brother A.B., and sister Suzette, along with fellow Los Dinos members Pete Astudillo and Chris Perez, the latter of whom also became Selena’s husband. The film follows Selena’s career from performing as a child in the late 1970s, becoming known as the Queen of Tejano Music in the 1980s, and her growing crossover appeal before her tragic 1995 murder.
My Thoughts on Selena y Los Dinos
Coinciding with the 30th anniversary of her death, one of the main goals of Selena y Los Dinos seems to be about reintroducing the Queen of Tejano Music to a new generation. However, the main issue with this documentary is that it is made up predominantly of VHS archival footage that hasn’t aged that well. As such, while Selena y Los Dinos can act as a primer, perhaps young fans should let Selena’s music speak for itself (or perhaps watch the 1997 biopic starring Jennifer Lopez).
