In honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month (Sep 15 – Oct 15), please join us in celebrating these iconic and groundbreaking films and television shows named to our AFI lists, screened at AFI FEST, honored with AFI AWARDS and selected for AFI Movie Club.
September 15, 2022
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National Hispanic Heritage Month Viewing Guide
A powerful epic crime drama that opens up with the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943 and spans 30 years, AMERICAN ME (1992) marked the feature directorial debut of AFI Trustee Edward James Olmos, who also stars in the film. Learn more about AMERICAN ME in the AFI Catalog.
The first installment of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Trilogy of Death,” AMORES PERROS (2000) is a dramatic and visceral debut centered around three men in Mexico City whose lives are linked by a fateful car crash. The film, which stars an ensemble cast including Gael García Bernal, screened at AFI FEST in 2000 where it won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film. Learn more about the AFI FEST selection AMORES PERROS.
From Academy Award®-winning director Alejandro González Iñárritu, BABEL was honored with an AFI AWARD in 2006, with AFI noting that the “[r]aw performances from an extraordinary cast drive this haunting and, at times, harrowing tale about our inability to communicate despite advances in technology.” Learn more about BABEL in the AFI Catalog.
BEATRIZ AT DINNER (2017), directed by AFI Conservatory Alum Miguel Arteta (AFI Class of 1990), stars Oscar® nominee Salma Hayek as a Mexican immigrant and healer who, when her car breaks down at the home of a wealthy client, ends up staying for dinner and engaging in an epic sparing match, exposing harsh truths about race, class and privilege. Learn more about BEATRIZ AT DINNER in the AFI Catalog.
A moving testament to artistic and sexual freedom directed by Julian Schnabel, BEFORE NIGHT FALLS (2000) is a “sensual, lyrical and searing memorial to the late Cuban novelist and poet Reinaldo Arenas, played by Javier Bardem with a riveting mixture of passion and playfulness” – and the film was selected as an honoree at the first annual AFI AWARDS. Learn more about BEFORE NIGHT FALLS in the AFI Catalog.
Writer/director Jorge Gutierrez’s colorful valentine to Mexican folklore, THE BOOK OF LIFE (2014), features an all-star cast led by Diego Luna. The design of the film’s character La Muerte was inspired by José Guadalupe Posada’s iconic zinc etching “La Calavera Catrina,” as well as by muralist Diego Rivera’s “Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central.” Learn more about THE BOOK OF LIFE in the AFI Catalog.
Winner of two Academy Awards® – one for Best Animated Feature Film and one for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) for “Remember Me” written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, COCO (2017) follows a young boy in pursuit of his dream to become a great musician who uncovers the mysteries behind his ancestors’ stories and traditions. Learn more about COCO in the AFI Catalog.
Written, directed, shot, produced and edited by Robert Rodriguez on a shoestring budget when he was just 23 years old, EL MARIACHI (1993) launched his career and became the first installment of the iconic “Mexico Trilogy” – which continued with DESPERADO (1995) and ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO (2003). Learn more about EL MARIACHI in the AFI Catalog.
Directed by Mexican-American filmmaker Gregory Nava, this powerful feature film follows two teenaged siblings on their harrowing journey to escape tragic conditions in their own country during the Guatemalan Civil War. EL NORTE (1983) was co-written and produced by AFI Conservatory Screenwriting Discipline Head Anna Thomas, who earned an Academy Award® nomination for her work. Learn more about the AFI Movie Club selection EL NORTE.
In the lavish RKO musical FLYING DOWN TO RIO (1933), a young woman named Belinha de Rezende is torn between bandleader Roger Bond and her Brazilian fiancé Julio Rubeiro. The film was conceived as a starring vehicle for Dolores Del Río, the first Mexican actress to achieve mainstream success in Hollywood. The film screened at AFI FEST 2015 in the Cinema’s Legacy section. Learn more about FLYING DOWN TO RIO in the AFI Catalog.
With powerhouse performances from Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina, this 2002 biographical drama which depicts the professional and private life of the surrealist Mexican artist Frida Kahlo was co-written by AFI Conservatory Screenwriting Discipline Head Anna Thomas. FRIDA (2002) was honored with an AFI AWARD, nominated for six Academy Awards®, including a historic nomination for Salma Hayek, and won two Oscars®. Learn more about FRIDA in the AFI Catalog.
Loosely inspired by a Venezuelan telenovela, this humorous and heartfelt series stars Gina Rodriguez as Jane, a young Latina woman who becomes pregnant following a medical mix-up at her doctor’s office. Honored with a 2014 AFI AWARD as one of the best television series of the year, the show depicts the beauty, strength and diversity within the Latino community as Jane’s family and friends rally around her. Read more about AFI AWARDS honoree JANE THE VIRGIN (2014).
Renowned playwright and director Luis Valdez, who wrote “Zoot Suit,” the first Chicano play on Broadway – which was then later adapted into the first Chicano major feature film, wrote and directed this biography of rock ‘n’ roll superstar and pioneer of Chicano rock, Ritchie Valens. In 2017, LA BAMBA (1987) was selected as one of 25 films to be added to the National Film Registry of the U.S. Library of Congress. Learn more about LA BAMBA in the AFI Catalog.
AFI AWARDS honoree MARIA FULL OF GRACE (2004) takes the audience on a treacherous and tension-filled journey from Colombia to the U.S. through the eyes of Maria, played by Catalina Sandino Moreno in an Oscar®-nominated portrayal of a pregnant teenager working as drug mule to support her family. Learn more about MARIA FULL OF GRACE in the AFI Catalog.
In a story about three generations of a Mexican American family living in East Los Angeles exploring their tragedies and triumphs, MY FAMILY, MI FAMILIA (1995) stars Jimmy Smits, Esai Morales and AFI Board member Edward James Olmos, and was co-written and produced by AFI Conservatory Screenwriting Discipline Head Anna Thomas. Learn more about MY FAMILY, MI FAMILIA in the AFI Catalog.
Directed by Mexican auteur Guillermo del Toro, PAN’S LABYRINTH (2006) is a dark fantasy set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War, chronicling young Ofelia’s journey into a magical yet macabre underworld. The acclaimed film was showcased at AFI FEST 2006 with del Toro in attendance and was also awarded a trio of Academy Awards®. Learn more about PAN’S LABYRINTH in the AFI Catalog.
Featuring the big screen debut of America Ferrera, REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES (2002) is a coming-of-age story about a young Mexican-American woman who is torn between familial duty and her dreams of going away to college. The screenplay was co-written – and based on the stage play – by Josefina López, who attended AFI’s TV Writer’s Workshop in 1999. Watch the film’s director Patricia Cardoso speak to AFI Conservatory Fellows about her filmmaking journey and learn more about the AFI Movie Club selection REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES.
ROMA
ROMA (2018), Alfonso Cuarón’s love letter to his homeland of Mexico, was honored with a Special Award at the 2018 AFI AWARDS – recognizing it as “an ode to life, love and loss – a monument to the power of film to inspire empathy across the walls of geography, class and culture. Alfonso Cuarón’s personal tour de force deftly captures the emotional balance of intimacy and opera – recalling the poetic power of Fellini and Buñuel while creating a film of striking originality and vaulting ambition.” Read more about ROMA at the 2018 AFI AWARDS.
International superstar Jennifer Lopez stars as the beloved Grammy® Award-winning Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez in this biopic written and directed by Gregory Nava. In 2021, SELENA (1997) was officially selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Learn more about SELENA in the AFI Catalog.
While a Mexican-American chef’s three grown daughters might be pursuing their own paths in life, they all still reunite around the table for Sunday dinner. A feast for the eyes, this family drama portrays the struggles experienced within the family, as well as the love and home-cooked meals that bring them closer together. The film was directed by María Ripoll (AFI Class of 1990) and written by Vera Blasi (AFI Class of 1991), Ramón Menéndez (AFI Class of 1979) and Tom Musca. Learn more about the AFI Movie Club selection TORTILLA SOUP (2001).
UGLY BETTY
Based on Fernando Gaitán’s beloved telenovela, UGLY BETTY (2006) stars America Ferrera as an ambitious, aspiring journalist from a working-class Latino family in Queens, NY who lands her dream job at a high fashion magazine. Underestimated and undermined at every turn due to her lack of style and polish, she ultimately earns the respect and admiration of her colleagues while challenging stereotypical notions of beauty, class and race. Read more about AFI AWARDS honoree UGLY BETTY.
Marking Mexican director Patricia Riggen’s feature directorial debut and starring Kate del Castillo, Adrián Alonso and Eugenio Derbez, UNDER THE SAME MOON (2008), which premiered at Sundance, follows a woman and her son separated by the U.S.-Mexico border. Learn more about UNDER THE SAME MOON in the AFI Catalog.
WEST SIDE STORY (2021)
This modern reinterpretation of the iconic musical, WEST SIDE STORY (2021) was honored with a 2021 AFI AWARD, recognizing the film as culturally and artistically representative of the year’s most significant achievements in the art of the moving image. For her stunning performance as Anita, AFI Trustee Ariana DeBose won an Academy Award® – and made history as the first Afro-Latina and openly queer woman of color to win Best Supporting Actress. Read more about WEST SIDE STORY at AFI AWARDS 2021.
The debut feature film of writer/director Luis Valdez, ZOOT SUIT (1981) is a musical drama starring Daniel Valdez and AFI Trustee Edward James Olmos and centered around the events that led to the Los Angeles Zoot Suit Riots of the 1940s. Valdez adapted the film from his stage show “Zoot Suit” – the first Chicano play ever to be performed on Broadway. Learn more about the AFI Movie Club selection ZOOT SUIT.
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This article was published in September 2022 and updated in September 2023.
Comments (1)
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Holly N. Davis
Spare Parts 2015 should be added to this list!! Starring George Lopez, based on a true story about 4 undocumented Hispanic students from Arizona who built an underwater robot from scrap material to compete against elite universities like MIT. PLEASE ADD THIS MOVIE AS A MUST WATCH!