Mi familia
USA,
1995, 128 min
Shown in 1995
CREDITS
- dir
-
Gregory Nava
- prod
-
Francis Ford Coppola, Guy East, Tom Luddy
- scr
-
Gregory Nava, Anna Thomas
- cam
-
Edward Lachman
- editor
-
Nancy Richardson
- cast
-
Jimmy Smits, Esai Morales, Eduardo Lopez Rojas, Elpidia Carrillo, Edward James Olmos, Jenny Gago
-
COMMENTS
One of four Opening Night films. Jimmy Smits, Esai Morales, Jenny Gago, Francis Ford Coppola, Tom Luddy and Gregory Nava in person.
The bond between family members is the driving force in Gregory Nava's latest film. And for this melodrama of a multigenerational Mexican-immigrant family struggling to survive in Los Angeles, Nava (El Norte) has assembled an all-star Latino cast, including Jimmy Smits, Edward James Olmos and Esai Morales. The story begins in the 1920s, when teenager José Sánchez journeys to L.A. to find a long-lost relative. José finds a job, marries Maria, and My Family follows their lives and those of their five sons and daughters through numerous successes, failures, tragedies and triumphs. Nava's film does not focus on any one character: As he explained in a recent interview, the family itself is the protagonist. "Until you understand familia, you don't understand Latinos." The film captures an authentic landscape, history and view of L.A. where Latino immigrants are not outsiders or marginal residents but the centerpoint of a vital, rich American culture.
FACTOID #50
The San Francisco International Film Festival, which kicked off December 4, 1957, is the longest continuously running film festival in the Americas.
