"We're jamming to make the Sundance deadline," said Gregory Nava, co-writer/director of "My Family" ("Mi Familia"), which will have its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival Thursday. "They saw the rough cut and liked it, and we're bending over backwards to get the print up there.
"We're not in competition, of course, we're in the premieres. But it's still an independent film - and it's a wonderful way for the film to be premiered."Nava was in Los Angeles last week and spoke from his car phone as he drove to the studio to approve the latest editing tweaks. The film will arrive at the Egyptian Theater as a "wet print," meaning one that has been in post-production right up to the last minute before being shipped to Utah.
"My Family" is a multi-gen-erational look at a Latino family in Los Angeles, beginning in the 1920s, and the first-rate ensemble cast is headed by Jimmy Smits (TV's "NYPD Blue," "L.A. Law"), Edward James Olmos (who just won a Golden Globe for the TV-movie "The Burning Season") and Esai Morales ("Bad Boys," "La Bamba").
"We're very happy to be there with our new film," Nava said, adding that he has a long association with the festival and the Sundance Institute. "It's one of the best, if not the best festival of its kind, because they do emphasize American independents. It's very important. It allows a showcase for new talent and new ideas and all kinds of cinema to enter the mainstream, and it's been very influential. The filmmakers and the films that have come out of the festival fill a tremendous need.
"When I first started out as an independent filmmaker, there was no Sundance - there was no nothin' - it was a total closeout. Nobody was looking for new talent or new ideas. All the movies came out of Hollywood, the studios, and were made by older filmmakers."
Nava and his wife and partner Anna Thomas (who co-wrote and produced "My Family") are probably best known for the 1983 drama "El Norte," a superb, startling portrait of a young Guatamalan brother and sister who emigrate to the United States expecting to find paradise but instead find a reality that is quite harsh. "I'm very dedicated to Latino filmmaking. I am Chicano, I'm bilingual and Latino and very dedicated to that subject matter."
During the 12-year span between "El Norte" and "My Family," however, Nava and Thomas made only one other film, an over-ripe soap opera called "A Time of Destiny," which flopped at the box office. And if you ask why, Nava has a simple answer - it takes a long time to get financing for these kinds of movies. "It took us many years to make `El Norte' - and it was nominated for an Oscar, it made millions of dollars. And yet, it was just as hard to make `Mi Familia' as `El Norte.' It took us five years. The film industry is very closed to films of this subject matter.
"That's also true for black filmmakers, but black filmmakers have made more in-roads in the past few years, and the audience is changing. There are tremendous numbers of Latinos in this country, it's a huge segment of the population, and the audience is hungry, I think. The face of America is changing, and the Latino audience is hungry for their story to be told. And the non-Latino audience is hungry to know something about the Latino culture. It's the fastest- growing segment of the population, and it is changing the face of the country.
"We did finally get `Mi Familia' financed, which is very significant. And it will be a major release, and this is as it should be."
"My Family" is a low-budget film, Nava said, but it doesn't look like it. "The budget was $51/2 million but the movie looks like a $20 million film. We shot in Mexico, and it's set in the '20s, the '60s and the '80s, there are scenes with hundreds of extras - we really stretched the money, and everybody who did the movie did it because they wanted to do it. They did it for love. So, we were able to get a tremendous look for a low amount of money."
And Nava is convinced the film's story and themes will touch a wide audience. "It's a film about people and family, and it's a history of a family, an American family. And it is universal and is for anybody.
"This whole concept of minorities is an illusion because we are finally all very much alike."
Change in the film industry is slow, Nava said, but "little by little it does change. The success of `The Joy Luck Club' (about a Chinese-American family) certainly is one of the reasons we were able to get financed. And getting Francis Ford Coppola involved (he is billed as executive producer) was a big help. We sent the script to Zoetrope (Coppola's production company), and Francis Coppola believes that the whole new wave of entertainment film in America is Latino. And he's right. That's the new wave, and all those things are very hip. `Like Water for Chocolate.' It's the new rhythm of the country.
"It's a beautiful thing. People love Latino culture. One of the things that is so powerful and strong about it is that it's all family based. And everything in the Latino culture is about family. We're the most family-centered culture there is. This is a culture that thrives on family and family values. And this movie is about the importance of family."
"My Family" will screen Thursday, Jan. 26, at 7 p.m. in the Egyptian Theater and again Friday, Jan. 27, at 12:30 p.m. in the Park City Library Center.
FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
For festival information, phone 328-FILM (328-3456); for ticket information, phone 322-1700. All theaters and auditoriums are in Park City, except the Tower, which is in Salt Lake City (876 E. 900 South), and the Sundance Screening Room, which is at the Sundance Resort in Provo Canyon.
THURSDAY, JAN. 26
Egyptian: "Picture Bride" 4 p.m., "My Family" 7 p.m., "The Doom Generation" 10 p.m.
Holiday I: "Ecological Design" 4 p.m., "Ballot Measure 9" 7 p.m., "No Loans Today" 10 p.m.
Holiday II: "Eclipse" 4:20 p.m., "Gatica the Monkey" 7:20 p.m., "Son of the Shark" 10:20 p.m.
Holiday III: "Eagles Don't Hunt Flies" 4:40 p.m., "Love Burns' 7:40 p.m., "Postcards From America" 10:40 p.m.
Prospector: "Unzipped" 3 p.m., "Cold Blooded" 6 p.m., TBA 9 p.m.
Library: "The Brothers McMullen" 3:30 p.m., "Naked Jane" 6:30 p.m., "New Jersey Drive" 9:30 p.m.
Sundance: "Priest" 8 p.m.
Tower: "The Four Corners of Nowhere" 6 p.m., "The Usual Suspects" 8:30 p.m., "Nadja" midnight.
FRIDAY, JAN. 27
Egyptian: "Shorts Program IV" 10 a.m., "The Devil Never Sleeps" 1 p.m., "Angela" 4 p.m., "Shallow Grave" 7 p.m., "Nadja" 10 p.m., "Nightwatch" midnight.
Holiday I: "Black Is . . . Black Ain't" 10 a.m., "Teen Dreams" 1 p.m., "Dorothea Lange" 4 p.m., "Out of Ireland" 7 p.m., "Shorts Program V" 10 p.m.
Holiday II: "Crumb" 10:20 a.m., "Jupiter's Wife" 1:20 p.m., "Heavy" 4:20 p.m., "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" 7:20 p.m., "Un-zipped" 10:20 p.m.
Holiday III: "When Billy Broke His Head . . ." 10:40 a.m., "The Brothers McMullen" 1:40 p.m., "A Litany for Survival" 4:40 p.m., "Party Girl" 7:40 p.m., "The Garden of Eden" 10:40 p.m.
Prospector: "Muriel's Wedding" 9:30 a.m., "Interactive Fiction" noon, "Living in Oblivion" 3 p.m., "The Four Corners of Nowhere" 6 p.m., "The Basketball Diaries" 9 p.m.
Library: "Ermo" 9:30 a.m., "My Family" 12:30 p.m., "The Doom Generation" 3:30 p.m., "Fall Time" 6:30 p.m., "The Basketball Diaries" 9:30 p.m.
Sundance: "Native Cinema I" 4:30 p.m., "An Awfully Big Adventure" 8 p.m.
Tower: "Safe" 6 p.m., "A Pure Formality" 8:30 p.m., "Tie-Died" midnight.
SATURDAY, JAN. 28
Egyptian: "Ballot Measure 9" 10 a.m., "The Basketball Diaries" 1 p.m., "The Wife" 4 p.m., "Once Were Warriors" 7 p.m., "Words upon the Window Pane" 10 p.m., "Mute Witness" midnight.
Holiday I: "No Loans Today" 10 a.m., "Ecological Design" 1 p.m., "Rhythm Thief" 4 p.m., "Shorts Program I" 7 p.m., "Shorts Program II" 10 p.m.
Holiday II: "Parallel Sons" 10:20 a.m., "Fall Time" 1:20 p.m., "Tie-Died" 4:20 p.m., "The Silence of Neto" 7:20 p.m., "A Night in Nude" 10:20 p.m.
Holiday III: "Naked Jane" 10:40 a.m., "Picture Bride" 1:40 p.m., "Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls" 4:40 p.m., "Native Cinema II" 7:40 p.m., "Growing Up" 10:40 p.m.
Prospector: "Shallow Grave" 9:30 a.m., TBA noon, "The Young Poisoner's Handbook" 3 p.m., "Cradle Song" 6 p.m., "The Silences of the Palace" 9 p.m.
Library: "Window to Paris" 9:30 a.m., "Homage" 12:30 p.m., "Cold Blooded" 3:30 p.m., "To the Starry Island" 6:30 p.m., "No Mercy" 9:30 p.m.
Sundance: "Frank and Ollie" 2 p.m., "Picture of Light" 4:30 p.m., "Before Sunrise" 8 p.m.
Tower: "The Secret of Roan Inish" 2 p.m., "Exotica" 6 p.m., "Shallow Grave" 8:30 p.m., "The Doom Generation" midnight.