ABU DHABI: When Netflix announced it would release the award-winning documentary “Selena y Los Dinos,” about the late La Reina, or Queen of Tejano Music, Selena Quintanilla Perez — known only as Selena — I knew I would be among the first to watch it.
Although Selena was tragically gunned down 30 years ago at the age of 23, her music has remained very much alive.
Directed by Mexican-born and US-raised filmmaker Isabel Castro — who was 5 at the time of Selena’s untimely death — the project felt intimate.
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and won the US Documentary Special Jury Award for Archival Storytelling.
With her signature bright red lipstick, infectious laughter, dark mane of wild hair and flashy outfits, Selena glides onto the screen once again.
My earliest memory of Selena was watching the 1997 movie starring Jennifer Lopez. Seeing how she felt deeply connected to her roots yet struggled to string a sentence together in her mother tongue was something I could relate to.
But this documentary feels different.
It contains footage many fans have never seen before featuring authentic moments, silly sibling squabbles, downtime on tour, and her playful searching for the right Spanish word during interviews when English was her dominant language.
Because Castro grew up in a predominantly white American neighborhood, her lens made the documentary feel both personal and universal.
Executive produced by Selena’s ever-present siblings and bandmates, mainly sister and drummer Suzette, and bassist and brother Abraham “A.B.” Quintanilla III — the project captures Selena through home movies, archival footage, and interviews with those closest to her.
One of the most striking moments of the 117-minute documentary has her famously shy mother, Marcella Quintanilla, giving her first-ever public interview.
The documentary does a good job introducing Selena and her band to those who may not know her.
Selena y Los Dinos, her band, was formed in 1981, and by the late 1980s became one of the first American musicians of Latin descent to successfully cross over from Spanish to English markets.
She earned her first Grammy in 1994 and a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021.
Netflix had tried telling part of Selena’s story before — most recently in a lukewarm 2020 scripted series bearing her name — but this is the first time the story was told in this format. It feels like a heart-to-heart.
I especially loved how her bandmate, Chris Perez, was finally honored in this new on-screen offering.
Selena fell in love with him at the height of her fame, causing chaos in her tight-knit family and leading her furious father to boot him from the band once their secret relationship was revealed.
Despite the turmoil, Selena privately proposed to Perez and they eloped in 1992 when she was 20 and he was 22.
An especially touching moment in the documentary has Perez, now 56, read a love letter Selena had written to him — a tiny glimpse into their deep connection.
She died just two days shy of their third anniversary.
The documentary briefly touches on Selena’s 1995 murder without sensationalizing it — which was the right call as it allows the spotlight to rest firmly on the talent herself. Her murderer, a disgruntled former employee, was recently denied parole.
This documentary is candid, raw and vibrant. A new generation can now experience the joy of “Como La Flor,” while OG fans can still mouth every word — even if they do not speak Spanish.
This is not another Selena story where only she carries the weight.
In this documentary, she has Los Dinos with her — sharing the byline, the pain and the glory. This is their narrative. And this is our closure.
