Directed by: Gregory Nava
Writing credits: Gregory Nava
Movie Genre: Drama/Biography
Released: 1997
Running Time: 127 minutes
Rating: PG
Selena is a 1997 movie about the life of Selena Quintanilla Perez, a Grammy Award-winning Tejana singer.
Selena Quintanilla was a major figure in Tejano music, a Grammy-winning recording artist, a beloved star in the American Southwest and Mexico, and seemed poised to cross over into mainstream popularity on the U.S. pop charts when she was murdered on March 31, 1995 by the president of her fan club.
Written and directed by Gregory Nava, this biopic concentrates on Selena's relationship with her family and her rise to fame, dealing only briefly with her tragic death.
Abraham Quintanilla is a veteran musician who leads a family-based singing group, The Dinos. At a young age, he notices that his daughter Selena has a strong singing voice, and he works her into the act (her big number is a version of Over the Rainbow).
However, as she grows older, Selena wants to establish her own musical identity; while her heritage is Mexican-American, her primary language is English and her favourite artists are American pop acts like Donna Summer.
While Selena and Abraham sometimes argue about the musical direction of the group, he always respects and supports her talent, and her blend of Tejano roots music and danceable pop rhythms soon sparks a revolution in Latin music.
Selena later earns the wrath of her father when she becomes romantically involved with Chris Perez, a rebellious and long-haired guitarist hired to play with the group, but when they elope and Selena convinces Abraham that their love is sincere, Chris is welcomed into the family.
After a long string of successes on the Latin charts and playing to a sellout crowd at the Houston Astrodome and a crowd of 100,000 at a stadium in Monterey, Mexico, Selena begins recording her first album in English, which is expected to make her a mainstream star on the level of Whitney Houston or Gloria Estefan.
However, the fates decreed it was an album she would never complete.
Selena was produced with the participation of the Quintanilla Family, and Selena's own recordings were used on the soundtrack.
Tagline: The story of a girl who had the spirit to believe in a dream and the courage to make it come true.