Latin music superproducer Edgar Barrera knew his life was about to change when he received a call from award-winning filmmaker Jonás Cuarón. “Exactly one year ago, I told my wife that I wanted to pivot more into film and television. It’s so crazy because I get a call five days later saying Jonás was doing this movie,” the music hitmaker revealed during their panel at Billboard House @ SXSW on Sunday (March 15). That movie became Campeón Gabacho, a culturally rich and humane immigration story that blends reality and imagination, anchored by a purpose-driven soundtrack created exclusively for the film.
Joined by Billboard Español’s associate editor Isabela Raygoza at the Mohawk in Austin for Billboard House @ SXSW, Cuarón and Barrera revealed how their collaboration on the upcoming and timely film blends music, storytelling, and community to bring the immigrant experience to life. With its global premiere just a day away, the project has already drawn attention for its gripping premise — a star-studded cast featuring Leslie Grace, Rubén Blades, Rosario Dawson, Cheech Marin, and Eddie Marsan, plus an equally powerful lineup of Latin music’s finest talents.
Cuarón mentioned that the story is loosely based on Aura Xilonen’s debut novel of the same name, which she wrote and published at 19 years old in 2015. “What’s really special about the novel is that she invented a whole new language for it called Ingleñol, kind of like a wink at Spanglish — a mixture of English, Spanish, and really weird made-up words,” Cuarón said during the discussion. The lyrical quality of the language made the story a natural fit for adaptation to film, and he knew early on that music would play a pivotal role in this project.
Campeón Gabacho follows a Mexican immigrant who crosses the Rio Grande and navigates life in New York City, all while caught between two worlds. While speaking on the protagonist, filmmaker said, “I think many times, part of the issue with the discourse of immigration is that it talks of the immigrant as a concept. And in this movie, I really wanted the audience to go inside our main character, Liborio, and see that he’s just a teenager with dreams, in love. And show also how rich it is.”
Liborio’s journey blends reality and imagination, a dynamic Barrera captured through the soundtrack with over one dozen Latin A-listers like Santa Fe Klan, Grupo Frontera, Rawayana, Bomba Estéreo, Arcángel, and more.
“I wanted all the songs to be exclusively written for the movie,” says Barrera. “Second, [I wanted them to be] songs about immigration, which is something that you don’t hear a lot. We were probably used [to hearing songs like that] back in the ‘60s or ‘80s, where there was this revolution of artists singing protest songs about the government. Sitting down with artists like Víctor Mendivil, writing a song about immigration, about ICE, [and] what’s going on — the day we wrote that song, he was part of the march. He got to the studio [later that night], so he saw what’s going on in the streets, and bringing that to the song was just perfect.”
“[The protagonist] goes on a journey of hardships and violence; but it also has a lot of love, and it’s really funny,” Cuarón said. “Once he finds his community, he also realizes that with the strength of the community, he’s no longer gonna like stand up for a punch.”
The global debut of Campeón Gabacho will take place at the SXSW Zach Theater on Tuesday (March 17) at 5:15 p.m. local time.
