Presented FREE by the Sawyer Seminar, Imagining Latinidades: Articulations of National Belonging, a project of the University of Iowa Latina/o Studies Program, the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

"A golden portrait." - Washington Post

"A strong statement about the fleeting fragility of life." - Cinema Crazed

La Bamba is the biographical story of 1950s rock 'n' roll rage Ritchie Valens (born Ricardo Valenzuela), played by Lou Diamond Phillips. The film follows how the 17-year-old Californian went from farm-laborer to overnight success, including his untimely death in a plane crash with Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. The tragic coda of La Bamba is not unduly emphasized: this is a celebration of Ritchie Valens' life, not a eulogy.