Gregory Nav A Mexican Filmmaker Who Was Born Essay

Gregory Nava is a Mexican filmmaker who was born on April 10, 1949, in San Diego California. As a former UCLA alumni, Nava has produced several racially and culturally charged films that often break new grounds such as, El Norte, Mi Familia, and Bordertown. Thus, Nava dedicates his filmmaking career to give his audience a distinct point of view which is the central thread of his films and that which encompasses the Latino culture, experience, and their unjust treatment in America as oppressed minorities; with the hope of counteracting false stereotypes, misconceptions, promoting education, compassion, and acceptance of minorities. Nava does this by redefining the traditional labels of who the â€Å"insiders† and â€Å"outsiders† of society are, he also puts Latinos in the position of subjects through whose eyes the audience, experience plots, and who speak for themselves instead of being perceived voyeuristically by characters from outside the Latino community, and b y incorporating what Nava describes as â€Å"dream realism† aspects to his films (Johnson, 2009). Nava’s $750,000 independent film, El Norte depicts the story of a Guatemalan brother and his sister s harrowing odyssey to the United States that includes a memorable grueling crawl through a rat-infested tunnel and their struggles to adapt to their new life in Los Angeles (Johnson, 2009, p.1). Forced with a grueling decision to stay in their native country and potentially be killed by the Guatemalan Guerillas, like most of