Selena Quintanilla appears in Selena y Los Dinos by Isabel Castro, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

Selena y Los Dinos Review: Celebrates the Tejano Music Queen

Sundance 2025

/
8 mins read

Selena y Los Dinos
(USA, 110 min.)
Dir. Isabel Castro
Programme: US Documentary Competition (World premiere)

 

Just as the world was falling in love with Selena Quintanilla, violence tragically cut her life short at 23. Her story, life, and music endure, however, as this lovingly told archival film from Isabel Castro (Mija) pays tribute to the “Queen of Tejano Music.” Made with the full cooperation of Quintanilla’s family and Polygram Entertainment, Selena y Los Dinos inevitably hews closer to the sea of celebrity music docs emerging faster than water through a cracked dam. This documentary nevertheless offer a celebration of life told through an intimate and loving lens. There’s not much new for fans of the star, nor anyone who’s seen the 1997 Jennifer Lopez drama, but it’s an entertaining reminder of a talent lost too soon.

The film recaps Selena’s childhood growing up in a Latino family in Texas. Her parents, Abraham and Marcella, reminisce about how music was their family’s foundation. Marcella admits that she didn’t know her husband was a singer when she married him. Abraham, meanwhile, acknowledges that his love for touring with his band made him an absent father. But he tells Castro that he quit music when he came home and his kids didn’t recognize him. It’s a bittersweet anecdote, but also a telling one about the Quintanillas’ ongoing effort to balance work and family.

Abraham sets the stage for Selena’s career by talking about the family restaurant. The Quintanillas ran a Mexican eatery and made it authentic by having the family sing for patrons. Instead of a mariachi band, they treated diners to a Latino spin on the Jackson 5. The family band, Los Dinos, emerged. But as Selena grew older, her voice made her the default headliner.

Selena y Los Dinos captures a remarkable span of Quintanilla’s young life through VHS archive. It’s obvious that the family grasped her potential for stardom. Home movies chronicle a born performer, but also a typical adolescent. She’s mildly rebellious and keen to showcase her voice, rather than fade into the crowd.

Castro brings a lens to the documentary that expands the frame beyond this one family. Selena’s siblings share that they were essentially straddling two worlds by being a Tejano band. They’d sing in Spanish, but couldn’t speak the language fluently. Archival clips show Selena’s determination to learn Spanish, a challenge she gamely accepted while serving as the spokesperson for the band in interviews. This determination demonstrates her appeal, and how many young Latinos saw themselves in her.

The more the band and family immersed itself in Latino culture, however, the more they recognized the challenges of the market, even after Selena won a Grammy. While the interviews and archives illustrate the success of Selena y Los Dinos, they always knew that capturing the English market would take them further. The conversations here echo many Canadian music docs that position the American market as the hallmark of success. But there’s also a slight absence of reflection about the need to “cross over.” The Quintanillas and the archives nevertheless show Selena’s effort to put her Latina roots at the forefront of her performances. From her vivacious stage presence, big hair, and sequined outfits, one sees the young woman who broke out at quinceañeras.

There are moments of tension as Selena’s husband and band member, Chris Pérez looks back at the early days of their relationship. He and Abraham recall early differences as the latter kicked the former out of the band. As Pérez recalls, though, Selena’s suggestion to elope forced peace between warring factions. This aspect of the documentary seems like one case that plays a little too smoothly.

If the lack of bumps in Selena’s personal life seems squeaky clean, it speaks to the film overall. There’s just an absence of drama for the most part. It’s a story of living the American dream and achieving it, if only for a brief moment. And a tragic one as it shows how well Selena accepted the challenge to serve as a positive role model for a community.

However, the doc cuts to Quintanilla’s death in a jarring edit that surely mirrors the abruptness of real life. Audio of the emergence dispatch plays atop news footage like the tragedies of many true crime docs. There’s no mention of Selena’s murderer, Yolanda Saldívar, prior to the incident though. Even though Saldívar was Quintanilla’s agent, manager of her fan clubs and boutiques, and supposedly a long-time friend, a discerning eye can’t find a trace of her.

There’s obviously a conscious effort to focus on Selena’s life because her death has defined enough of her story. As a narrative choice, however, it’s both discombobulating and somewhat dissatisfying that the film doesn’t probe the events that precipitated the violence. It’s obviously still painful for the family members to discuss the events, and Castro respects their emotional space. (Saldívar received a life sentence and recently applied for parole.)

The film recovers to deliver a cathartic ending, though, as the family recalls the posthumous release of Dreaming of You. Selena’s family shares the bittersweet success of the crossover hit that eluded her in life. To this day, her final records haunt them.

For fans, however, Selena y Los Dinos offers a touching celebration of life. Castro and film editor Carolina Siraqyan deliver a dextrous feat that brings Selena Quintanilla to life anew through the archives. The film simply evokes the presence of a wonderful voice and soul.

Selena y Los Dinos premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

Pat Mullen is the publisher of POV Magazine. He holds a Master’s in Film Studies from Carleton University where his research focused on adaptation and Canadian cinema. Pat has also contributed to outlets including The Canadian Encyclopedia, Paste, That Shelf, Sharp, Xtra, and Complex. He is the vice president of the Toronto Film Critics Association and an international voter for the Golden Globe Awards.

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