One night, when director Gregory Nava was filming under the 4th-and-Lorena Street Bridge in Boyle Heights, a tragic tie to the past unwittingly became part of the present. It was a cosmic connection so undeniable that even 30 years later it gives the director chills when recounting the story.
Nava was filming a pivotal scene for Mi Familia, his intimate yet sweeping multi-generational portrait of the struggles, joys, losses, successes, heartbreaks and reconciliations within a Mexican-American family living in East L.A. The scene in question involved the horrific shooting death of one of the film’s polarizing main characters at the hands of police just steps from his family’s home.
While filming night after night at the historic bridge, Nava began to notice a man quietly watching from the sidelines. He kept to himself and never disturbed anyone, but he observed intently as the cast and crew moved from setup to setup.