SUNDANCE: ‘Selena Y Los Dinos’ Doesn’t Add Much To The Icon’s Story

Outside of the matriarchs in my family, Selena Quintanilla is one of the women who had the largest impact in shaping my life. As a Tejana, especially one with brown skin who felt “ni aquí ni allá” my entire life, Selena charted a path for me to be accepted as no one other than myself. So, it’s safe to say that Selena Y Los Dinos, a documentary by director Isabel Castro (whose debut film Mija premiered in 2022), was right up my alley. That said, it also has a large task to try to add more to the 23 years of life we have explored through countless looks into the icon’s life since her death.

Isabel Castro uses unreleased home videos and public interviews of the “Queen of Tejano Music” to paint a more human portrait of the star. More importantly, though, Castro looks to highlight the Quintanilla family band, Selena y Los Dinos, to map Selena’s journey before her solo career. The story starts with Abraham (because it always does) and his time in his band, which began singing in English only to transform into a Tejano band because of the racism they encountered.

From early on, Castro makes a point to highlight the world that the family and Selena had to navigate. Racism and sexism are never thrown into the background but rather central to viewing the journey. We see Selena and her band as they move from performing at quinceañeras to selling out stadium tours. Her life and legacy are celebrated through never-before-seen footage from the family’s personal archive, but everything they share only highlights Selena’s joy.

Selena Y Los Dinos doesn’t do much to stray from what we know about the Queen of Tejano Music. It adds layers to what we saw in the 1996 Jennifer Lopez-fronted Selena biopic and approaches her life with a warmth that only those of her could make. Through interviews, we see Selena’s charisma and confidence, but with b-roll personal letters, we also see her insecurities. While these are only small moments, they’re some of the first times I can remember seeing her be anything but perfect.

But those moments are few and far between. My concern about the documentary immediately came from reading that the footage would be released from the Quintanilla family archives. As Selena’s legacy has continued, so has the posthumous marketing that continues to sell the prim and perfect image of the Queen of Tejano. More specifically, as the family has rightfully protected Selena’s image from sensationalist novelas, they’ve also smoothed any semblance of a rough edge she ever had. This often meant that Chris Perez, the man, not a character played by an actor, was usually left out despite being her husband.

Selena Y Los Dinos tries to correct this glaring issue in preserving Selena’s history with Chris present. More importantly, when discussing their relationship, he, the family, and their friends (through individual talking head segments) discuss the anger and the worry that resulted in their secret relationship and elopement. It’s the most honest look we’ve gotten into the family and told together, which is a monumental task that Castro pulls off.

The in-depth exploration of “Como la Flor” is also a standout moment of the film. It offers more information and identity to the song’s development, a storied development that is explored here with even more detail than we’ve seen.

Selena Y Los Dinos offers a tender look at the Queen of Tejano Music, but it retreads well-worn paths. 

Castro’s sincere reverence for Selena is evident throughout the film. Selena Y Los Dinos feels more like a personal tribute to the legend than a film that maps out every unexplored inch of the singer’s life. Additionally, Isabel Castro chooses to show her death only in passing and instead uses news footage and Selena’s family’s grief to show the audience.

Warmth is the easiest way to describe the created atmosphere, with interviews in homes and on couches. It feels as if the Quintanillas have invited us into their lives. But any daughter in a Mexican family knows that the life we show the public isn’t always the totality of what’s lived.

Abraham Quintanilla has loomed over Selena’s legacy. Guarding it relentlessly but also causing conversations among the Mexican American community about the machismo he embodies. Colleagues in the Tejano business have told tales of his iron fist and discipline and often used the comparison to the Jackson 5 (which one of the subjects here makes in a positive light) to allude to the high level of perfection the Quintanilla patriarch required for his children. While some people, like the hosts of Anything For Selena, a podcast dedicated to Selena, have been given the privilege of broaching this subject with Abraham, it is mainly left off the table here.

The only truly compelling and fresh thing about Selena Y Los Dinos is that we get glimpses of Selena when she isn’t smiling. We get to read a personal letter she sent to Chris Perez (often left out of Quintanilla-approved projects) that captures the sadness of the distance her father forced between them.

When answering some questions, she jokes about her dad in small ways that show the pressure she’s under, or she hesitates, showing a moment of vulnerability. Those small lingering images of a Selena who isn’t performing for the world with her wide smile did more for me as someone who has looked to her for decades than any story of her kindness retold by her family has ever done.

But outside these small moments, Selena Y Los Dinos doesn’t do much to add to Selena’s legacy. It tells the same story we have seen and heard since her death. Only now, for a few brief minutes in segments of selected footage, Selena feels less like a goddess protected at all costs and a woman who was just trying to reach her dreams.

Selena Y Los Dinos premiered as a part of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.