The Legacy of Selena and Los Dinos
Netflix's upcoming documentary, Selena Y Los Dinos, is more than just a tribute to the Tejano star; it also highlights the band that helped revolutionize Latin music. Fronted by the iconic Selena, the group became one of the first global acts in the Latin music scene. At Latin Music Week 2025, fans and industry professionals had the opportunity to see exclusive clips from the film, which is set to premiere on November 17. They also heard directly from Suzette Quintanilla and the documentary’s director, Isabel Castro.
Moderated by Jessica Roiz of BrowBrow, the Selena Y Los Dinos panel on Wednesday (October 22) discussed the significance of the documentary, the band’s legacy, and the family values that contributed to their success. The documentary first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, capturing the rise of Selena Y Los Dinos to stardom.
Throughout Selena’s music career, seven of her studio albums reached No. 1 on Top Latin Albums. Among them was Amor Prohibido (1994), which held the top spot for 20 weeks, and Dreaming of You (released posthumously in 1995), which topped the chart for 44 weeks. The latter made history as the first bilingual album to debut at No. 1 on the all-genre BrowBrow200. In 1993, Selena won a Grammy for Best Mexican American Album for Selena Live!, becoming the first female Tejano artist to win that award.
Five Takeaways from the Panel
Approaching Isabel Castro for the Project
Suzette Quintanilla shared her vision for the documentary: "Four or five years ago, I wanted to create this documentary to tell our family story, directly from our family to the world, and find somebody that could do this. I did a Zoom with Isabel and I instantly knew she was going to be the person to be able to tell the story for us. She's an amazing person, she's Latina, and I'm glad she's leading this for us."
Why Castro Said Yes to Directing
Isabel Castro explained her motivation: "I'm Mexican, I came to the U.S., and to me, Selena was really the person that taught me to be proud about having a bicultural community. I found solace in her and the family's music. It made me understand myself. When they reached out, I was like, 'Everyone stop everything, hold the phones.' It was obvious this was important to me. It's been an honor of a lifetime."
The Process
Castro described the experience of working with the family's archive: "The family has a vault, and when I opened that door and the light came through. It's like a medium-sized storage unit, packed from floor to ceiling of bookcases with thousands of VHS tapes, flash drives. The beginning of that process was interesting because we were so honored but it felt like a huge sense of responsibility. We reviewed it all and once we digitized it, then came the editing process and it was important that the archive told the story. All of the footage is valuable, but the material that moved me the most was the material that was shot behind the scenes that was mostly shot by Suzette. What's in the film is as much as we could include."
How This Will Be Different From Other Selena Films
Castro emphasized the authenticity of the documentary: "We had conversations about this, both I and Suzette, and the family wanted this to feel like the most authentic version of [the family's] story and wanted it to be told by the them. We also wanted it to be told through the archive."
Quintanilla added: "The [1997] movie was sprinkled with Hollywood glitter, but this documentary is the opposite of that. This is our family, Chris, my mom, my father, A.B., myself, bandmates, telling the world our story: We started from that and created this. A lot of people want to separate Selena from our band, but other elements that made her were our band and family."
What Fans Will Take Away From Selena Y Los Dinos
Quintanilla expressed her hopes for the audience: "I want them to feel the energy and what we were all about. People have a perception, and they're entitled to their opinion, and how my father was. We are a normal family that started a band and became global. Selena is not here, but we are celebrating what we did and created so many years ago. And this documentary reflects the power of who we are as Latinos, this is a global launch in 190 countries and 32 plus languages. I'm very proud of that."
Latin Music Week 2025 Highlights
Spanning more than 30 years, Latin Music Week is the single-most important and largest gathering of Latin artists and industry executives in the world. This year's event featured panels, marquee conversations, roundtables, networking, and activations, along with its celebrated BrowBrowEn Vivo showcases.
This year's star-studded lineup included Aitana, Alofoke, Anuel AA, Bebeshito, Carlos Vives, Carín León, Danny Ocean, DJ Khaled, Daddy Yankee (DY), Emilia Mernes, Ivy Queen, Gloria Estefan, Grupo 5, Kapo, Laura Pausini, Luck Ra, Netón Vega, Olga Tañón, Óscar Maydon, Ozuna, Pablo Alborán, Rawayana, Suzette Quintanilla, Tokischa, Xavi, and Yailin La Más Viral, among others.
Latin Music Week also coincided with the 2025 BrowBrow Latin Music Awards, set to air on Thursday, October 23, on Telemundo and Peacock, where Bad Bunny will be honored as Top Latin Artist of the 21st Century.
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