Gregory Nava

El Norte

El Norte

Brother and sister Enrique and Rosa flee persecution at home in Guatemala and journey north, through Mexico and on to the United States, with the dream of starting a new life. It’s a story that happens every day, but until Gregory Nava’s groundbreaking El Norte (The North), the personal travails of immigrants crossing the border to America had never been shown in the movies with such urgent humanism. A work of social realism imbued with dreamlike imagery, El Norte is a lovingly rendered, heartbreaking story of hope and survival, which critic Roger Ebert called “a Grapes of Wrath for our time.”

Film Info

  • Guatemala, United States
  • 1983
  • 140 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.78:1
  • K'iche', English, Spanish
  • Spine #458

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer supervised and approved by director Gregory Nava, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • New audio commentary featuring Nava
  • In the Service of the Shadows: The Making of "El Norte": a new video program featuring interviews with Nava, producer and co-writer Anna Thomas, actors Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez and David Villalpando, and set designer David Wasco
  • The Journal of Diego Rodriguez Silva, Nava's 1972 award-winning student film
  • Gallery of Chiapas location-scouting photographs
  • Theatrical trailer
  • New and improved English subtitle translation
  • PLUS: An essay by novelist Héctor Tobar and Roger Ebert's 1983 review of the film

    Cover based on a theatrical poster

Purchase Options

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer supervised and approved by director Gregory Nava, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • New audio commentary featuring Nava
  • In the Service of the Shadows: The Making of "El Norte": a new video program featuring interviews with Nava, producer and co-writer Anna Thomas, actors Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez and David Villalpando, and set designer David Wasco
  • The Journal of Diego Rodriguez Silva, Nava's 1972 award-winning student film
  • Gallery of Chiapas location-scouting photographs
  • Theatrical trailer
  • New and improved English subtitle translation
  • PLUS: An essay by novelist Héctor Tobar and Roger Ebert's 1983 review of the film

    Cover based on a theatrical poster
El Norte
Cast
Ernesto Gómez Cruz
Arturo Xuncax
David Villalpando
Enrique Xuncax
Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez
Rosa Xuncax
Alicia del Lago
Lupe Xuncax
Miguel Gomez Giron
Informer
Jose Martin Ruano
Foreman
Stella Quan
Joefita
Eraclio Zepeda
Pedro
Credits
Director
Gregory Nava
Producer
Anna Thomas
Production Sound
Robert Yerington
Cinematography
James Glennon
Editing
Betsy Blankett
Screenplay
Gregory Nava
Screenplay
Anna Thomas
Casting
Bob Morones
Casting
Toni-Conchita Rios
Casting
Jean Gill
Set designer
David Wasco

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Dana Calvo’s Top 10
Dana Calvo’s Top 10

Dana Calvo created and executive produced Amazon’s Good Girls Revolt. Previously, she was co–executive producer of Narcos on Netflix, and creator of Made in Jersey on CBS.