El Norte (film)
El Norte (English: The North) is a 1983 independent drama film, directed by Gregory Nava. The screenplay was written by Gregory Nava and Anna Thomas, based on Nava's story. The movie was first presented at the Telluride Film Festival in 1983, and its wide release was in January 1984.
| El Norte | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Gregory Nava |
| Screenplay by | Gregory Nava Anna Thomas |
| Story by | Gregory Nava |
| Produced by | Anna Thomas |
| Starring | Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez David Villalpando |
| Cinematography | James Glennon |
| Edited by | Betsy Blankett Milicevic |
| Music by | The Folkloristas Malecio Martinez Linda O'Brien Emil Richards |
Production companies | American Playhouse Independent Film Productions |
| Distributed by | Mainline Pictures (United Kingdom) Cinecom International Films Island Alive (United States) |
Release dates |
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Running time | 139 minutes |
| Countries | United Kingdom United States |
| Languages | English Quiché Spanish |
| Budget | $800,000 |
The drama features Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez and David Villalpando, in their first film roles, as two indigenous youths who flee Guatemala due to the ethnic and political persecution of the Guatemalan Civil War. They head north and travel through Mexico to the United States, arriving in Los Angeles, California, after an arduous journey.
The picture was partly funded by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), a non-profit public broadcasting television service in the United States.
El Norte received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay in 1985, the first Latin American independent film to be so honored. In 1995, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".