(L-R) Gregory Nava, Dolores Huerta, Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez, and David Villalpando attend the 2025 Sundance Film Festival “El Norte” screening at the Egyptian Theatre. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)
By Jessica Herndon
As the 2025 Sundance Film Festival revisits cinematic milestones in the From the Collection section, Gregory Nava’s El Norte stands out as a poignant exploration of the immigrant experience. The film chronicles the harrowing journey of Guatemalan siblings Rosa and Enrique, who, after the brutal massacre of their father during the Guatemalan Civil War, embark on a perilous quest to reach the United States. Their odyssey through Mexico and into the U.S. unveils the stark contrast between their dreams and the challenging reality they encounter upon arrival. The film’s narrative delves deep into the struggles of undocumented workers, portraying their relentless pursuit of identity and belonging.
Developed at the inaugural Sundance Institute Directors Lab in 1981, El Norte is celebrated for its intensity and epic scope. Last Friday at our fundraising gala, we honored our feature film program and its founding director, Michelle Satter. Since El Norte was part of our first Lab, it’s fitting that we would celebrate it this year.
The legacy of El Norte is profound, marking a significant moment in American independent cinema. Its 1985 Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay was a groundbreaking achievement for Nava. The film’s enduring relevance is underscored by its 2017 restoration by the Academy Film Archive, with the Getty Foundation’s support, ensuring its powerful message continues to resonate with new audiences. In 1997, Sundance Institute jointly founded an archive program with the UCLA Film & Television Archive called the Sundance Institute Collection at UCLA. We restore films every year.
The extensive standing ovation following the screening of El Norte today proves that these efforts are worth it. Joined by El Norte stars Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez (Rosa) and David Villalpando (Enrique), Nava smiles as the crowd cheers and applauds. “I have to thank Sundance for helping El Norte come into being,” Nava says as the audience calms. “[Robert Redford] changed cinema by using his star power to help me and other filmmakers like me realize and tell our stories.”
El Norte begins in Guatemala. Grounding us here was key for Nava. “Most immigration stories start with the people coming to the United States, and I didn’t want to do it that way,” Nava says. “I wanted to show the world where they come from. Even though they’re poor, it is beautiful.”
It was equally important to Nava to educate viewers on the genocide in Guatemala. “People did not know about the huge surge of immigrants and refugees from Central America,” he says. “There was no news about it. People did not know there was a genocide in Guatemala against Mayan people. You see that in the film.” Due to the movie’s social and political subject matter, the El Norte crew found themselves in peril during production. “It was very dangerous to do this film because the message of this film and what we were trying to say with this film was such a threat to people,” says Nava. While filming in Mexico, “Men with guns came to the set when we were shooting the scene where the army was massacring the campesinos,” Nava remembers. “That image was too strong. They came and stopped the shooting of our movie, and we had to flee the country. But we were determined and we went back to the United States and found a way to finish the film. The love and determination that our crew had was so strong that we were able to overcome it.”
Nava was also intent on telling El Norte as authentically as he could. “I believe very strongly in mythic structure. I wanted to bring that style to the cinema,” he says. “I wanted to tell Latino stories in our own Latino way. In the Mayan mythology, there are always twin heroes, not a single hero. So, I thought, ‘All right, we’ll have twin protagonists.’ That was very unusual at the time. We had a lot of discussion about that at the Sundance Lab — whose story is it, Rosa’s or Enrique’s? And I would say it’s Rosa and Enrique’s equal. The other thing is that, of course, their values from their village and their ancient culture is a communal value about family value, community — not the individual. So, Rosa and Enrique are a little family, but in the United States, the attack is spiritual on them — it’s about the individual. As Jorge tells him, ‘You got to look out for yourself.’ It’s a tough thing, and I wanted to show that. By having that small family be ripped apart in the movie, you could capture the spiritual violence that exists for the undocumented and refugees.”
The attack on refugees’ family structure and values is as prevalent today as it was when he made the film, Nava adds. “I am stunned the film is still relevant at this very moment,” he says. “The sad thing is that the issue is still there and is getting worse and worse every day because of the new administration here in America. At this very moment, thousands of people are being deported to Mexico, to Central America, and their families are being divided.”
El Norte isn’t just a film — it’s an essential chapter in the immigrant experience on screen. Nava’s masterpiece broke barriers and decades later, its impact endures.
