November 23, 2025 • 27 mins
In this episode, Latino USA’s “Selena expert” Maria Garcia sits down with Selena Quintanilla’s sister, Suzette and filmmaker Isabel Castro, to talk about the new Netflix documentary, Selena y Los Dinos: A Family’s Legacy. Suzette opens up about choosing to share the intimate home videos that shaped the film, while Isabel reflects on her artistic vision that brought the documentary to life. Listen in on this behind the scenes look at the life of a woman who defined a generation.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know reggaeton, but do you know the whole story?
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hi?
Speaker 1 (00:04):
I'm Gini Montardo, senior producer and sound designer of Loud
The History of Reggaeton. Did you hear the news? Loud
is back by a popular demand. Listen to all ten
episodes that break down the beats, politics, and power behind
the genre. Hosted by herself Evie Queen. Listen now only
on Spotify.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
From Futuro Media, It's Latino USA. I'm Mariano Posa. Today
on our show, We're we excited to talk about La
Na Selena Gintania. We're bringing you an interview with Selena's
sister Susette, plus Isabel Castro, who is the director of
the new Netflix documentary Selena I Lostinos And so we thought, well,
(01:07):
who better to interview these women about Selena than none
other that our very own in house Selena expert our
Futuro Studios executive editor Maria Garcia. Maria Garcia spent years
reporting and researching Selena for her award winning podcast Anything
for Selena, which is one of our favorite series that
(01:28):
we've made here at Futuro. In the series, Maria examined
Selena's life and her legacy and how Selena shaped Maria's own.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Sense of belonging in the United States.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
And so today Maria sits down with Susett Quintanilla and
filmmaker Isabel Castro to talk about love legacy and all
about the home videos that shaped the new Netflix documentary
Selena I Losinos, A family's Legacy.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Here's my colleague, Maria Garcia.
Speaker 5 (01:59):
Hi, Suzette, Hi, Isabelle. Hi, Maria, It's so good to
see you again and to talk with you again, and
congratulations on the beautiful documentary. I saw the screener yesterday
and I'm still like recovering from it. It was just
such a beautiful journey.
Speaker 6 (02:20):
Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Isabel really did an amazing job of taking this footage
that was just me capturing the moment. And then look,
I mean, we're what thirty years later, you know, we're
able to come together and create this insanely hell a
cool documentary about our journey.
Speaker 6 (02:42):
And I'm so grateful for Isabelle. I really am.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
She did such an incredible job and delivering our family story.
Speaker 5 (02:52):
I definitely see like the artistic vision and just the
humanity behind it. I wanted to ask you sizzette to begin.
So what motivated you to release these very personal home
videos now?
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Honestly, Aria, I just I realized the importance of what
Selena means to the Latino community and what she represents
to so many women. It's kind of crazy to see
that our music is still relevant and still being played,
and what it means to everybody, and how it just
moves everybody. And I also know the two generations in
(03:28):
Maria that are embracing Selena and our music. I just
thought like it would be really great to have this
time capsule of what we created and our story being
told by none other than us.
Speaker 6 (03:40):
You know, there's no.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Blurred lines, there's no misrepresentation of what we did back
in the day. It's been crazy, right, It's a bell.
Speaker 7 (03:49):
It's been really it's been really insane.
Speaker 5 (03:54):
Isabelle, I wanted to ask you what was your connection
to Selena before the project and what was your initial
reaction when you signed on to direct the documentary.
Speaker 7 (04:05):
Like many Latinas in the United States, I grew up
with Selena. I am Mexican. I moved here when I
was really little. I grew up in a really white community.
I watched the nineteen ninety eight seven film about Selena
and the Kintania family. When I was really young, and
it was really genuinely the first time I saw myself
(04:28):
represented in a film. I had never seen a film
so perfectly kind of capture what it feels like to
be of two places. And she taught me to kind
of be really proud of that because up until that point,
like I thought I had to pick one.
Speaker 6 (04:48):
And then obviously the music is just such a.
Speaker 7 (04:51):
Central part of my culture, Like you know, it's been
played at every wedding I.
Speaker 6 (04:56):
Ever go to.
Speaker 7 (04:57):
Obviously, when I was first reach shout about this, like
it was kind of surreal, there was a part of
me that didn't totally believe it, and like didn't want
to get my hopes up.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
I wanted to ask you how you felt seeing all
of these home videos assembled together to form the documentary.
Speaker 8 (05:18):
Yes, yes I am. I'm right here right now. Sorry,
we're not on AIRWI. My father's a manager, my brother's
a producer, and my sister is a drummer in the band.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
There's already such a vast archive of Selena out in
the internet right now, and we see her being playful,
but nothing quite like this new footage because what I
loved so much about it is she's with the people
she trusted and loved more than anyone in the world,
like her family. Right, you can see the camaraderie between
(05:53):
all of you that like really shines through.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
What is the thing?
Speaker 9 (05:57):
Sure, you're one yesterday, so you gross you're you won
that last week and you have washed it? If do
you watch yourwear every day?
Speaker 5 (06:07):
There No, the vibe of the footage is very like playful,
goofy like togetherness. And so I wanted to ask you
what was it like to see it all come together?
Speaker 2 (06:20):
You know, you're talking about not just Selena's life, but
our life. This has been archived and just kind of
just put away. You know, this was recorded, I mean
so many many years ago, way before she ever passed away.
Like if we hadn't seen that footage, even though this
was our life, we all had the same reaction to it.
(06:42):
Chris Abe Knight, like we didn't stop talking about it after.
I don't know it Aby or Chris said, Wow, that
felt like I'd never seen that footage before.
Speaker 7 (06:56):
I think they both said different versions of that.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
It felt new like they had never seen any of this.
That's what was crazy. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (07:05):
They both talked about how they felt like they've never
seen a lot of the fetish before, so I wanted
it to feel like there take footage. That means that, like,
when you're watching this film, sometimes you even forget that
it's archive, that it's a documentary because you're kind of
experiencing the film.
Speaker 6 (07:23):
You're experiencing it.
Speaker 7 (07:25):
As closely as possible as to the lived experience.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
But what made it different it was the fact that
the archival stuff that I had filmed eons ago, you
brought it back to life, so to speak.
Speaker 6 (07:45):
Afterwards, after we left the theater.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
And we were all talking, We're like, man, I forgot
we were there. I forgot we did that, and oh
my god, where were we at with that? It was
just one of those moments where we you know, you
see stuff and you haven't seen it for so many years,
and it's just the beauty of how Isabelle was able
to put it together and to tell this story, you know,
(08:10):
of our journey of Selena Luvius.
Speaker 7 (08:14):
It didn't really register that I was working on this
until like a lot later, maybe than it should have.
I was really kind of afraid because of like the
weight of the responsibility of trying to get this right.
It felt like a lot of responsibility. Not just had
I never done a film about a celebrity, but I'd
never done a film about someone that meant so much
(08:37):
to me. Going into it already balancing that kind of
pressure was really overwhelming at first. I think once I
got to know the family as a family and I
got to know Selena as a young woman, it started
becoming a little bit easier because I wasn't thinking of
this as like a symbol, Like I was just thinking
(08:57):
of Suzette as like a person I was getting to
know and I was building a relationship with, and so
that became easier.
Speaker 5 (09:05):
I mean, I relate so much to what you're saying,
because she is right like this sort of quintessential symbol
for Latina women of what it means to be bicultural,
what it means to ascend an American society without compromising
your roots, to be an empowered woman. But really, like
(09:27):
she was a person, yeah, you know, like a real
a sister, a daughter, a wife, And when you see
her humanity, it just becomes so much more natural and
beautiful to approach her legacy this way. I wanted to
ask you, Isabelle. We see her in the documentary talk
(09:48):
about how she sacrificed a lot. She talks about how
she didn't get a chance to make many friends in
adolescence because she was pursuing music. But it's also so
clear that she she saw that sacrifice as a worthwhile one, right,
and she did it with so much heart. What was
that like for you, Isabelle? To portray a nuanced Selena.
Speaker 7 (10:10):
I honestly went into it wanting to try to find
her faults and wasn't able to be honestly, she was
just so special. But I did want to try to
make her feel as dimensional as possible. I wanted to
try to find like the ways in which to just
(10:32):
kind of portray her as a multidimensional, the multidimensional being
that she was. Usually, when you're like editing a video,
like you're kind of cutting around the moments when someone
is focusing the camera or when someone is setting it
up in the edit, we included all of those moments
because it's in those little moments where you just start
(10:54):
to see it's not even just like it's.
Speaker 6 (10:58):
Not her flaws, it's her humanity.
Speaker 7 (10:59):
It's like there's so many instances in which like she's bickering,
not bickering with Susette, but she's like she's like.
Speaker 6 (11:06):
Ye, normal, normal sisters.
Speaker 7 (11:11):
Stuff like tellt like stop filming me, you know, things
like that. The film really tried as much as possible
to include all of the moments where she's not wearing
makeup and she's not, you know, fully turned on, because
I think it's in those moments that you really get
(11:32):
to know her better as a person.
Speaker 6 (11:35):
Suseette, what do you think? One hundred percent? I think
that's one of the beautiful things about.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
My sister was that she kept it real all the time,
and that I feel is a major connection that her
fan base has. But it's the humanity part of who
she was as a person. Whenever she said something incorrect,
and she would correct herself and then she would laugh,
And that definitely comes out in the documentary like Selena
(12:02):
is really.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Real after the break.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
More from the conversation with Selena's sister Susette Quintanilla and
the documentary director Isabel Castro.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Dad would just push us in his own way. It
wasn't like you're gonna practice. It was more like, don't
forget y'all got to practice. You know, for thirty minutes
a day, and we thought thirty minutes was like forever
because we wanted to play outside.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
Stay with us. Yes, hey, we're back.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
We're gonna jump back into our conversation where Susette Dania
reflects on the way that their father pushed her brother
ab to unlock the talent he knew he had.
Speaker 6 (13:02):
As a parent.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
I don't know if everybody on here has kids, but
this is what you do. You hone in on what
your kid is good at, or you see potential and
you nurture it.
Speaker 6 (13:13):
And that's what my father did.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
And I just feel like the film in general just
captures the human side of who we truly are and
still are.
Speaker 6 (13:24):
I hear you.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
It's so funny.
Speaker 6 (13:25):
You know, my son, he's eleven.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
He plays piano and other instruments, and every day he's like, oh,
because I'm like, you got to practice, and he's like hi.
Speaker 10 (13:34):
And I'm like, Selena, Lina's practiced every day for fifteen minutes,
and look where they are now.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
I'd love the best part of me of my brother
is were he's frustrated because he wasn't able to get
those songs and he just like zipped himself in into his.
Speaker 6 (13:59):
Little was it a a sleeping bag?
Speaker 5 (14:02):
Cried I love that the moment that you were talking about.
For our listeners who haven't seen the documentary, please please
watch it. But there's this beautiful moment where Aby is
talking about how you all were ascending, what you needed
new music and there was this one songwriter in Texas
who was making hits, and Aby went and he saw
(14:24):
him and he was like, I'm going to give you
two songs. And then he rescinded that and was like, no, nope,
you don't have.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
Permission to use the songs.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
And then that's when Amy says, he like zipped himself
in his sleeping bag and cried.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Well, the first time in my life at home room
had a sleeping bag, zip myself up in the sleeping bag.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
I just started crying.
Speaker 6 (14:43):
I was like, you just started crying out of frustration.
Speaker 5 (14:46):
But then he talks about how his how your your father,
Abraham was like, well, you're a musician too, you can
write songs.
Speaker 6 (14:54):
What's stopping you?
Speaker 5 (14:55):
And that was like the impetus for him to write songs.
And at one point, you know, ab was the most
prolific songwriter in the fastest growing genre in the United States,
which was the hat. No. What I found fascinating is
that if you wrote that first number one song aby did,
(15:16):
and then your father was like anybody can write one
number one song, you know, like the question is can
you keep it going?
Speaker 6 (15:22):
Can you write another way?
Speaker 8 (15:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:24):
You did?
Speaker 5 (15:33):
What was it like to have that pressure from your
father be the impetus to continue growing as an artist.
Speaker 6 (15:41):
It wasn't like you lot of practice.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
And you know, I know a lot of people view
my father a certain way. I get a lot of
people tell me, oh my god, your dad's exactly like
my dad. Most Latino men fathers are. You know, they're strong,
you know, they come off that way. They're different generation
than what definitely.
Speaker 6 (16:01):
What we are, right.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
But Dad would just push us in his own way.
It wasn't like you're gonna practice. It was more like,
don't forget y'all got to practice, you know, for thirty
minutes a day, and we thought thirty minutes was like
forever because we wanted to play outside.
Speaker 6 (16:17):
He did it in a way where.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
It wasn't It was not in your face type of
like hey, you're gonna practice, but it was still as
a parent, like hey, you're gonna practice. You have to
understand that my father his love was music and it's
always been music. I just think as parents that's what
we just kind of do. We just kind of try
(16:40):
to navigate our kid and try to help them grow,
and what we see is something that they are really
good at. I'm grateful for my father doing that, and
I'm grateful that he saw something in all of us
and protected us through the journey, because a manager plays
a huge role in making sure you're protecting and he
(17:01):
did that. He knew what we were worth, and he
didn't shy away from it. He protected us and made
sure that we were taking good care of whenever he
was making a certain deal and staying away from certain
things that brand wise was not consistent of who we
were and who Selena was as a band.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
I love the way the candidness comes through in the
documentary in the interviews you know your father Abraham, and
the documentary mentions that he pushed you all to seeing
the Hano in large part out of necessity, right Like,
you all didn't have any money and music was a
way to bring food to the table, and in Texas,
you know, there was more money to be made in
(17:44):
the Hanno. But then you see in the documentary in
Selena and in all of you all that there's this
evolution right from like having to sink the Hanno to
then embracing it, representing it, being proud to seeing it.
And I wonder if you can shed light on that Evoluone.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
We grew up on Top forty music, but you know
it was also an eye opener to this whole different
genre of music. And then at one point, you know,
we did do this transition to Tahna music, and I
mean it was jaff play, something that we didn't want
to do.
Speaker 6 (18:19):
Long story short, we just agrew.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
To love it.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
I think we grew to love it because we started
understanding it more and also embracing who we are, you know,
where we come from, and what better way than to
embrace it and being introduced to more of that through music.
Speaker 5 (18:41):
You know. Another moment in the documentary that really stuck
with me was the band's like first concert in Mexico
and how initially like Selena e Lesinos did it hit
in Mexico that first concert?
Speaker 8 (18:54):
Right?
Speaker 2 (18:55):
I know, Oh no, did Johnnick knowledge show? I know
exactly what you're talking about. Oh my god, it was
an epic. Well my paintlora paint, permanent paint, florescent paint, Okay,
Scucendo and Mexico.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
Lost Paint title.
Speaker 6 (19:19):
You know, Los Mexican Americans.
Speaker 5 (19:23):
There's a lot of baggage there, you know, about how
we're received or not in Mexico, and your story is
one of the bastions of hope that all of Mexican
Americans looked to. Like Selena was accepted, you know, Selena
Losinos were accepted. But you see in the documentary like
it wasn't night and day, you know, like it was
a journey, like it took some time. But Isabelle, I
(19:45):
wanted to ask you, like what was it for you
as a Mexican American, Like capturing this moment of how
the band engaged with Mexico and were initially not hitting
but then eventually came to be embraced.
Speaker 6 (19:57):
I love that scene too.
Speaker 7 (19:59):
And also keeping mind that, like besides Selena Lastina's breaking
down barriers for Tihano music, they were also breaking down
barriers within Tihano music because it was a really male
dominated space. And so here's this like really young girl
dressed in her sequence. So I think that Mexico just
(20:19):
didn't know what to make of them, and and it's funny.
It's funny because you're just like seeing their reactions and
they're kind of like they're like kind of processing it,
you know, like yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Well, you know, Isabelle, I'm gonna tell you why you
have by chat that you have Sasa.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
You have all these types of music, right.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
And then you have this little bitty speck of the
Hano music.
Speaker 6 (20:42):
It's not played.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Like on the radio everywhere, and so it was a
fusion of who we were as the Hanas with of course,
the core of where our music comes from is make
equal the scene that you added Isabelle to where like
we think we're all that on the Johnny Canal Show,
you know, coming into Mexico. Oh we got this, you
(21:05):
know what I mean, because we were already doing stuff
in Texas and getting airplane and then we come in
and it was like literally like crickets.
Speaker 7 (21:12):
You know, they're like it literally is crickets. Like you
can hear, like there's like silence, you see, like you're
like one person in the back, like slow clapping.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
We'll be right back, Yes, hey, we're back.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Here's the last part of Pluto Media's made I Gotta
Seas conversation with Susetta and filmmaker is Castro.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
I also loved the specific shout out in the documentary
to Selina's performance of yes you know when she I
was a guy in the audience and then pretends he's
the ex boyfriend who fumbled her.
Speaker 9 (22:05):
Ladies play class attention.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
This is how you tell.
Speaker 11 (22:08):
Your man of when he does you wrong. Okay, here
we go, and.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
I love that.
Speaker 5 (22:21):
Pete as through you in the documentary talks about how
that moment serves almost like a proxy for women like
who are demanding respect from men. When the conventional thinking
was that, especially in the Hanno, was that women artists
weren't going to attract other women to their shows because
you know, women audiences didn't want to see like other
(22:43):
beautiful women on stage. And Selena completely shattered that stereotype
that it's not true that in fact, there's a lot
of Edmanda, there's a lot of sisterhood, there's a lot
of like solidarity among women.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Yeah, I agree, Maria, but I think it was even
bigger than that. In my opinion, it was more of that.
Whenever she would sing that song it was that moment
where we do have a say in our life, you know,
because there in our culture, you know, there's melmuchismo, you know,
there's a lot of it. I see things with my
parents and I'm like, really, mom, you know I said
(23:16):
that to her, and Selena said that to her. But
at the same time, the value of who we are
as women is extremely important and I feel that and
I know that when she would sing that song, it
was more about the empowering part.
Speaker 6 (23:29):
Hey know who you are and know your worth.
Speaker 12 (23:32):
One day, I was asleep and there's a knock on
the door. It was Selena and she said, let's go
get married. And I'm like, no, we not like this,
you know, I don't want it to be like this
for you.
Speaker 5 (23:45):
Another key moment I think is it shows what it
was like for your family when Selena eloped and the
hurt that caused, but then the you know, the togetherness,
Like once it happened, it was like okay, like all
of that tension and dissipated. What was it like to
share that with the world.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
I don't know if a lot of people realize that
Selena was only twenty and as a parent now I
would feel the same way if my son would have
gotten married at twenty. When Isabelle added that, you know
it's talked about in the film, I am grateful for
the fact that she did do what she did. Now
that I'm older, to be honest with you, media, you
(24:24):
take on a different sense of how you view life,
and especially now that sister is no longer with me,
I believe truly live in the moment, do what you
gotta do, buy the shoes, take the trip, do what
makes you happy, because we have one life. We have
one life, and you got to live at the best
that you can and whatever makes you happy.
Speaker 6 (24:46):
And at that moment, that's what made her happy.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
And I'm truly grateful that she was able to experience life.
I wish that she would have been here to experience
the other part of being married and having children and grandchildren,
and but that's just not you know, that's not what
it is.
Speaker 6 (25:01):
But I'm grateful.
Speaker 5 (25:05):
What a beautiful thought to end with one last little
kicker that I want to mention Isabelle. I absolutely loved
the creative choice to make Big Birth almost like a character.
Speaker 6 (25:20):
Yeah, Big Birth, I got her own.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
I love it.
Speaker 6 (25:27):
Thank you, Thank you so much. Is that always such
a pleasure.
Speaker 5 (25:31):
Thank you for continuing to share Selena's legacy with all
of us. It means so so much. And Isabelle, congratulations
again for creating such a lasting, singular work of art.
It's such a pleasure to speak with both of you.
Speaker 6 (25:46):
Thank you, saying Maria, thank you.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
That was Selena's sister suse Quintanilla and Isabel Castro, director
of the new Netflix documentary Selina ILOs Dino's a Famili's Legacy.
(26:34):
This episode was produced by Adriana Rodriguez. It was edited
by Maria Garcia and our managing editor Fernando Echavari. Sound
design by Jacob Rossati. It was bised by Julia Caruso.
Special thanks to Netflix. The Latino USA team also includes
Rosanna Guire, Jessica Elis, Rebeccae Varra Rinaldo, Leanos Junior, Stephanie Lebo,
(26:55):
Luis Luna Gordiman Marquez, Jurieta Martinelli, Monica Moreles Garcia, j
Karubin and Nancy Trujigo any Leiter Meds and I are
executive producers and I'm your host Marieno Hossan. Latino USA
is part of Iheart's Mike Udura podcast Network. Executive producers
at iHeart are Leo Gomez and Arlene Santana.
Speaker 4 (27:14):
Join us again for our next episode.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
In the meantime, I'll see you on all of our
social media and dear listener, don't forget to join Futuro Plus.
You get to listen to episodes like this with no ads,
and you get bonus episodes and special virtual events, and
you'll be supporting Futuro, which we know you love. So
join Futuro Plus. Aasta a proxima.
Speaker 13 (27:35):
Chiao Latino USA is made possible in part by the
John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Skyline Foundation, and
the Ford Foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines
of social change worldwide.
You know reggaeton, but do you know the whole story?
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hi?
Speaker 1 (00:04):
I'm Gini Montardo, senior producer and sound designer of Loud
The History of Reggaeton. Did you hear the news? Loud
is back by a popular demand. Listen to all ten
episodes that break down the beats, politics, and power behind
the genre. Hosted by herself Evie Queen. Listen now only
on Spotify.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
From Futuro Media, It's Latino USA. I'm Mariano Posa. Today
on our show, We're we excited to talk about La
Na Selena Gintania. We're bringing you an interview with Selena's
sister Susette, plus Isabel Castro, who is the director of
the new Netflix documentary Selena I Lostinos And so we thought, well,
(01:07):
who better to interview these women about Selena than none
other that our very own in house Selena expert our
Futuro Studios executive editor Maria Garcia. Maria Garcia spent years
reporting and researching Selena for her award winning podcast Anything
for Selena, which is one of our favorite series that
(01:28):
we've made here at Futuro. In the series, Maria examined
Selena's life and her legacy and how Selena shaped Maria's own.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Sense of belonging in the United States.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
And so today Maria sits down with Susett Quintanilla and
filmmaker Isabel Castro to talk about love legacy and all
about the home videos that shaped the new Netflix documentary
Selena I Losinos, A family's Legacy.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Here's my colleague, Maria Garcia.
Speaker 5 (01:59):
Hi, Suzette, Hi, Isabelle. Hi, Maria, It's so good to
see you again and to talk with you again, and
congratulations on the beautiful documentary. I saw the screener yesterday
and I'm still like recovering from it. It was just
such a beautiful journey.
Speaker 6 (02:20):
Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Isabel really did an amazing job of taking this footage
that was just me capturing the moment. And then look,
I mean, we're what thirty years later, you know, we're
able to come together and create this insanely hell a
cool documentary about our journey.
Speaker 6 (02:42):
And I'm so grateful for Isabelle. I really am.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
She did such an incredible job and delivering our family story.
Speaker 5 (02:52):
I definitely see like the artistic vision and just the
humanity behind it. I wanted to ask you sizzette to begin.
So what motivated you to release these very personal home
videos now?
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Honestly, Aria, I just I realized the importance of what
Selena means to the Latino community and what she represents
to so many women. It's kind of crazy to see
that our music is still relevant and still being played,
and what it means to everybody, and how it just
moves everybody. And I also know the two generations in
(03:28):
Maria that are embracing Selena and our music. I just
thought like it would be really great to have this
time capsule of what we created and our story being
told by none other than us.
Speaker 6 (03:40):
You know, there's no.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Blurred lines, there's no misrepresentation of what we did back
in the day. It's been crazy, right, It's a bell.
Speaker 7 (03:49):
It's been really it's been really insane.
Speaker 5 (03:54):
Isabelle, I wanted to ask you what was your connection
to Selena before the project and what was your initial
reaction when you signed on to direct the documentary.
Speaker 7 (04:05):
Like many Latinas in the United States, I grew up
with Selena. I am Mexican. I moved here when I
was really little. I grew up in a really white community.
I watched the nineteen ninety eight seven film about Selena
and the Kintania family. When I was really young, and
it was really genuinely the first time I saw myself
(04:28):
represented in a film. I had never seen a film
so perfectly kind of capture what it feels like to
be of two places. And she taught me to kind
of be really proud of that because up until that point,
like I thought I had to pick one.
Speaker 6 (04:48):
And then obviously the music is just such a.
Speaker 7 (04:51):
Central part of my culture, Like you know, it's been
played at every wedding I.
Speaker 6 (04:56):
Ever go to.
Speaker 7 (04:57):
Obviously, when I was first reach shout about this, like
it was kind of surreal, there was a part of
me that didn't totally believe it, and like didn't want
to get my hopes up.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
I wanted to ask you how you felt seeing all
of these home videos assembled together to form the documentary.
Speaker 8 (05:18):
Yes, yes I am. I'm right here right now. Sorry,
we're not on AIRWI. My father's a manager, my brother's
a producer, and my sister is a drummer in the band.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
There's already such a vast archive of Selena out in
the internet right now, and we see her being playful,
but nothing quite like this new footage because what I
loved so much about it is she's with the people
she trusted and loved more than anyone in the world,
like her family. Right, you can see the camaraderie between
(05:53):
all of you that like really shines through.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
What is the thing?
Speaker 9 (05:57):
Sure, you're one yesterday, so you gross you're you won
that last week and you have washed it? If do
you watch yourwear every day?
Speaker 5 (06:07):
There No, the vibe of the footage is very like playful,
goofy like togetherness. And so I wanted to ask you
what was it like to see it all come together?
Speaker 2 (06:20):
You know, you're talking about not just Selena's life, but
our life. This has been archived and just kind of
just put away. You know, this was recorded, I mean
so many many years ago, way before she ever passed away.
Like if we hadn't seen that footage, even though this
was our life, we all had the same reaction to it.
(06:42):
Chris Abe Knight, like we didn't stop talking about it after.
I don't know it Aby or Chris said, Wow, that
felt like I'd never seen that footage before.
Speaker 7 (06:56):
I think they both said different versions of that.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
It felt new like they had never seen any of this.
That's what was crazy. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (07:05):
They both talked about how they felt like they've never
seen a lot of the fetish before, so I wanted
it to feel like there take footage. That means that, like,
when you're watching this film, sometimes you even forget that
it's archive, that it's a documentary because you're kind of
experiencing the film.
Speaker 6 (07:23):
You're experiencing it.
Speaker 7 (07:25):
As closely as possible as to the lived experience.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
But what made it different it was the fact that
the archival stuff that I had filmed eons ago, you
brought it back to life, so to speak.
Speaker 6 (07:45):
Afterwards, after we left the theater.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
And we were all talking, We're like, man, I forgot
we were there. I forgot we did that, and oh
my god, where were we at with that? It was
just one of those moments where we you know, you
see stuff and you haven't seen it for so many years,
and it's just the beauty of how Isabelle was able
to put it together and to tell this story, you know,
(08:10):
of our journey of Selena Luvius.
Speaker 7 (08:14):
It didn't really register that I was working on this
until like a lot later, maybe than it should have.
I was really kind of afraid because of like the
weight of the responsibility of trying to get this right.
It felt like a lot of responsibility. Not just had
I never done a film about a celebrity, but I'd
never done a film about someone that meant so much
(08:37):
to me. Going into it already balancing that kind of
pressure was really overwhelming at first. I think once I
got to know the family as a family and I
got to know Selena as a young woman, it started
becoming a little bit easier because I wasn't thinking of
this as like a symbol, Like I was just thinking
(08:57):
of Suzette as like a person I was getting to
know and I was building a relationship with, and so
that became easier.
Speaker 5 (09:05):
I mean, I relate so much to what you're saying,
because she is right like this sort of quintessential symbol
for Latina women of what it means to be bicultural,
what it means to ascend an American society without compromising
your roots, to be an empowered woman. But really, like
(09:27):
she was a person, yeah, you know, like a real
a sister, a daughter, a wife, And when you see
her humanity, it just becomes so much more natural and
beautiful to approach her legacy this way. I wanted to
ask you, Isabelle. We see her in the documentary talk
(09:48):
about how she sacrificed a lot. She talks about how
she didn't get a chance to make many friends in
adolescence because she was pursuing music. But it's also so
clear that she she saw that sacrifice as a worthwhile one, right,
and she did it with so much heart. What was
that like for you, Isabelle? To portray a nuanced Selena.
Speaker 7 (10:10):
I honestly went into it wanting to try to find
her faults and wasn't able to be honestly, she was
just so special. But I did want to try to
make her feel as dimensional as possible. I wanted to
try to find like the ways in which to just
(10:32):
kind of portray her as a multidimensional, the multidimensional being
that she was. Usually, when you're like editing a video,
like you're kind of cutting around the moments when someone
is focusing the camera or when someone is setting it
up in the edit, we included all of those moments
because it's in those little moments where you just start
(10:54):
to see it's not even just like it's.
Speaker 6 (10:58):
Not her flaws, it's her humanity.
Speaker 7 (10:59):
It's like there's so many instances in which like she's bickering,
not bickering with Susette, but she's like she's like.
Speaker 6 (11:06):
Ye, normal, normal sisters.
Speaker 7 (11:11):
Stuff like tellt like stop filming me, you know, things
like that. The film really tried as much as possible
to include all of the moments where she's not wearing
makeup and she's not, you know, fully turned on, because
I think it's in those moments that you really get
(11:32):
to know her better as a person.
Speaker 6 (11:35):
Suseette, what do you think? One hundred percent? I think
that's one of the beautiful things about.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
My sister was that she kept it real all the time,
and that I feel is a major connection that her
fan base has. But it's the humanity part of who
she was as a person. Whenever she said something incorrect,
and she would correct herself and then she would laugh,
And that definitely comes out in the documentary like Selena
(12:02):
is really.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Real after the break.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
More from the conversation with Selena's sister Susette Quintanilla and
the documentary director Isabel Castro.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Dad would just push us in his own way. It
wasn't like you're gonna practice. It was more like, don't
forget y'all got to practice. You know, for thirty minutes
a day, and we thought thirty minutes was like forever
because we wanted to play outside.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
Stay with us. Yes, hey, we're back.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
We're gonna jump back into our conversation where Susette Dania
reflects on the way that their father pushed her brother
ab to unlock the talent he knew he had.
Speaker 6 (13:02):
As a parent.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
I don't know if everybody on here has kids, but
this is what you do. You hone in on what
your kid is good at, or you see potential and
you nurture it.
Speaker 6 (13:13):
And that's what my father did.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
And I just feel like the film in general just
captures the human side of who we truly are and
still are.
Speaker 6 (13:24):
I hear you.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
It's so funny.
Speaker 6 (13:25):
You know, my son, he's eleven.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
He plays piano and other instruments, and every day he's like, oh,
because I'm like, you got to practice, and he's like hi.
Speaker 10 (13:34):
And I'm like, Selena, Lina's practiced every day for fifteen minutes,
and look where they are now.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
I'd love the best part of me of my brother
is were he's frustrated because he wasn't able to get
those songs and he just like zipped himself in into his.
Speaker 6 (13:59):
Little was it a a sleeping bag?
Speaker 5 (14:02):
Cried I love that the moment that you were talking about.
For our listeners who haven't seen the documentary, please please
watch it. But there's this beautiful moment where Aby is
talking about how you all were ascending, what you needed
new music and there was this one songwriter in Texas
who was making hits, and Aby went and he saw
(14:24):
him and he was like, I'm going to give you
two songs. And then he rescinded that and was like, no, nope,
you don't have.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
Permission to use the songs.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
And then that's when Amy says, he like zipped himself
in his sleeping bag and cried.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Well, the first time in my life at home room
had a sleeping bag, zip myself up in the sleeping bag.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
I just started crying.
Speaker 6 (14:43):
I was like, you just started crying out of frustration.
Speaker 5 (14:46):
But then he talks about how his how your your father,
Abraham was like, well, you're a musician too, you can
write songs.
Speaker 6 (14:54):
What's stopping you?
Speaker 5 (14:55):
And that was like the impetus for him to write songs.
And at one point, you know, ab was the most
prolific songwriter in the fastest growing genre in the United States,
which was the hat. No. What I found fascinating is
that if you wrote that first number one song aby did,
(15:16):
and then your father was like anybody can write one
number one song, you know, like the question is can
you keep it going?
Speaker 6 (15:22):
Can you write another way?
Speaker 8 (15:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:24):
You did?
Speaker 5 (15:33):
What was it like to have that pressure from your
father be the impetus to continue growing as an artist.
Speaker 6 (15:41):
It wasn't like you lot of practice.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
And you know, I know a lot of people view
my father a certain way. I get a lot of
people tell me, oh my god, your dad's exactly like
my dad. Most Latino men fathers are. You know, they're strong,
you know, they come off that way. They're different generation
than what definitely.
Speaker 6 (16:01):
What we are, right.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
But Dad would just push us in his own way.
It wasn't like you're gonna practice. It was more like,
don't forget y'all got to practice, you know, for thirty
minutes a day, and we thought thirty minutes was like
forever because we wanted to play outside.
Speaker 6 (16:17):
He did it in a way where.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
It wasn't It was not in your face type of
like hey, you're gonna practice, but it was still as
a parent, like hey, you're gonna practice. You have to
understand that my father his love was music and it's
always been music. I just think as parents that's what
we just kind of do. We just kind of try
(16:40):
to navigate our kid and try to help them grow,
and what we see is something that they are really
good at. I'm grateful for my father doing that, and
I'm grateful that he saw something in all of us
and protected us through the journey, because a manager plays
a huge role in making sure you're protecting and he
(17:01):
did that. He knew what we were worth, and he
didn't shy away from it. He protected us and made
sure that we were taking good care of whenever he
was making a certain deal and staying away from certain
things that brand wise was not consistent of who we
were and who Selena was as a band.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
I love the way the candidness comes through in the
documentary in the interviews you know your father Abraham, and
the documentary mentions that he pushed you all to seeing
the Hano in large part out of necessity, right Like,
you all didn't have any money and music was a
way to bring food to the table, and in Texas,
you know, there was more money to be made in
(17:44):
the Hanno. But then you see in the documentary in
Selena and in all of you all that there's this
evolution right from like having to sink the Hanno to
then embracing it, representing it, being proud to seeing it.
And I wonder if you can shed light on that Evoluone.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
We grew up on Top forty music, but you know
it was also an eye opener to this whole different
genre of music. And then at one point, you know,
we did do this transition to Tahna music, and I
mean it was jaff play, something that we didn't want
to do.
Speaker 6 (18:19):
Long story short, we just agrew.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
To love it.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
I think we grew to love it because we started
understanding it more and also embracing who we are, you know,
where we come from, and what better way than to
embrace it and being introduced to more of that through music.
Speaker 5 (18:41):
You know. Another moment in the documentary that really stuck
with me was the band's like first concert in Mexico
and how initially like Selena e Lesinos did it hit
in Mexico that first concert?
Speaker 8 (18:54):
Right?
Speaker 2 (18:55):
I know, Oh no, did Johnnick knowledge show? I know
exactly what you're talking about. Oh my god, it was
an epic. Well my paintlora paint, permanent paint, florescent paint, Okay,
Scucendo and Mexico.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
Lost Paint title.
Speaker 6 (19:19):
You know, Los Mexican Americans.
Speaker 5 (19:23):
There's a lot of baggage there, you know, about how
we're received or not in Mexico, and your story is
one of the bastions of hope that all of Mexican
Americans looked to. Like Selena was accepted, you know, Selena
Losinos were accepted. But you see in the documentary like
it wasn't night and day, you know, like it was
a journey, like it took some time. But Isabelle, I
(19:45):
wanted to ask you, like what was it for you
as a Mexican American, Like capturing this moment of how
the band engaged with Mexico and were initially not hitting
but then eventually came to be embraced.
Speaker 6 (19:57):
I love that scene too.
Speaker 7 (19:59):
And also keeping mind that, like besides Selena Lastina's breaking
down barriers for Tihano music, they were also breaking down
barriers within Tihano music because it was a really male
dominated space. And so here's this like really young girl
dressed in her sequence. So I think that Mexico just
(20:19):
didn't know what to make of them, and and it's funny.
It's funny because you're just like seeing their reactions and
they're kind of like they're like kind of processing it,
you know, like yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Well, you know, Isabelle, I'm gonna tell you why you
have by chat that you have Sasa.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
You have all these types of music, right.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
And then you have this little bitty speck of the
Hano music.
Speaker 6 (20:42):
It's not played.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Like on the radio everywhere, and so it was a
fusion of who we were as the Hanas with of course,
the core of where our music comes from is make
equal the scene that you added Isabelle to where like
we think we're all that on the Johnny Canal Show,
you know, coming into Mexico. Oh we got this, you
(21:05):
know what I mean, because we were already doing stuff
in Texas and getting airplane and then we come in
and it was like literally like crickets.
Speaker 7 (21:12):
You know, they're like it literally is crickets. Like you
can hear, like there's like silence, you see, like you're
like one person in the back, like slow clapping.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
We'll be right back, Yes, hey, we're back.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Here's the last part of Pluto Media's made I Gotta
Seas conversation with Susetta and filmmaker is Castro.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
I also loved the specific shout out in the documentary
to Selina's performance of yes you know when she I
was a guy in the audience and then pretends he's
the ex boyfriend who fumbled her.
Speaker 9 (22:05):
Ladies play class attention.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
This is how you tell.
Speaker 11 (22:08):
Your man of when he does you wrong. Okay, here
we go, and.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
I love that.
Speaker 5 (22:21):
Pete as through you in the documentary talks about how
that moment serves almost like a proxy for women like
who are demanding respect from men. When the conventional thinking
was that, especially in the Hanno, was that women artists
weren't going to attract other women to their shows because
you know, women audiences didn't want to see like other
(22:43):
beautiful women on stage. And Selena completely shattered that stereotype
that it's not true that in fact, there's a lot
of Edmanda, there's a lot of sisterhood, there's a lot
of like solidarity among women.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Yeah, I agree, Maria, but I think it was even
bigger than that. In my opinion, it was more of that.
Whenever she would sing that song it was that moment
where we do have a say in our life, you know,
because there in our culture, you know, there's melmuchismo, you know,
there's a lot of it. I see things with my
parents and I'm like, really, mom, you know I said
(23:16):
that to her, and Selena said that to her. But
at the same time, the value of who we are
as women is extremely important and I feel that and
I know that when she would sing that song, it
was more about the empowering part.
Speaker 6 (23:29):
Hey know who you are and know your worth.
Speaker 12 (23:32):
One day, I was asleep and there's a knock on
the door. It was Selena and she said, let's go
get married. And I'm like, no, we not like this,
you know, I don't want it to be like this
for you.
Speaker 5 (23:45):
Another key moment I think is it shows what it
was like for your family when Selena eloped and the
hurt that caused, but then the you know, the togetherness,
Like once it happened, it was like okay, like all
of that tension and dissipated. What was it like to
share that with the world.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
I don't know if a lot of people realize that
Selena was only twenty and as a parent now I
would feel the same way if my son would have
gotten married at twenty. When Isabelle added that, you know
it's talked about in the film, I am grateful for
the fact that she did do what she did. Now
that I'm older, to be honest with you, media, you
(24:24):
take on a different sense of how you view life,
and especially now that sister is no longer with me,
I believe truly live in the moment, do what you
gotta do, buy the shoes, take the trip, do what
makes you happy, because we have one life. We have
one life, and you got to live at the best
that you can and whatever makes you happy.
Speaker 6 (24:46):
And at that moment, that's what made her happy.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
And I'm truly grateful that she was able to experience life.
I wish that she would have been here to experience
the other part of being married and having children and grandchildren,
and but that's just not you know, that's not what
it is.
Speaker 6 (25:01):
But I'm grateful.
Speaker 5 (25:05):
What a beautiful thought to end with one last little
kicker that I want to mention Isabelle. I absolutely loved
the creative choice to make Big Birth almost like a character.
Speaker 6 (25:20):
Yeah, Big Birth, I got her own.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
I love it.
Speaker 6 (25:27):
Thank you, Thank you so much. Is that always such
a pleasure.
Speaker 5 (25:31):
Thank you for continuing to share Selena's legacy with all
of us. It means so so much. And Isabelle, congratulations
again for creating such a lasting, singular work of art.
It's such a pleasure to speak with both of you.
Speaker 6 (25:46):
Thank you, saying Maria, thank you.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
That was Selena's sister suse Quintanilla and Isabel Castro, director
of the new Netflix documentary Selina ILOs Dino's a Famili's Legacy.
(26:34):
This episode was produced by Adriana Rodriguez. It was edited
by Maria Garcia and our managing editor Fernando Echavari. Sound
design by Jacob Rossati. It was bised by Julia Caruso.
Special thanks to Netflix. The Latino USA team also includes
Rosanna Guire, Jessica Elis, Rebeccae Varra Rinaldo, Leanos Junior, Stephanie Lebo,
(26:55):
Luis Luna Gordiman Marquez, Jurieta Martinelli, Monica Moreles Garcia, j
Karubin and Nancy Trujigo any Leiter Meds and I are
executive producers and I'm your host Marieno Hossan. Latino USA
is part of Iheart's Mike Udura podcast Network. Executive producers
at iHeart are Leo Gomez and Arlene Santana.
Speaker 4 (27:14):
Join us again for our next episode.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
In the meantime, I'll see you on all of our
social media and dear listener, don't forget to join Futuro Plus.
You get to listen to episodes like this with no ads,
and you get bonus episodes and special virtual events, and
you'll be supporting Futuro, which we know you love. So
join Futuro Plus. Aasta a proxima.
Speaker 13 (27:35):
Chiao Latino USA is made possible in part by the
John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Skyline Foundation, and
the Ford Foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines
of social change worldwide.
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