today , sets out to prove the opposite. From the producer team of James Lawler, Luis A. Miranda, Jr. and Julia Pontecorvo, “Going Varsity in Mariachi” follows the talented 20-member group of high school students who make up Edinburg North’s Mariachi Oro 2021-22 team in Texas.
Miranda was instinctively drawn to the film’s coming-of-age plot, which he first encountered as a blind email from Lawler and the director duo. “We only hear from border towns in stories about immigration, and the thousands of people coming through,” he says. “Listening to a story about normal kids using music to push forward their abilities and their future? That was quite moving.”
Numerous plotlines and character arcs are dedicated to showcasing the trials and tribulations of individual students such as Drake, the new player whose six-string acoustic bass is crucial to the band. And like every good coming-of-age story, there is a romantic storyline between two bandmates whose young love shines in tender moments.
Acuña adds, “A lot of my students go on to become music majors and I think that’s because they see how much I love music theory. I love to write music and I make it a point to write music in front of my students in class.” “One of the first things we talked about was the film ‘Ya No Estoy Aqui,’ and how it like made cumbia music cool,” says Osborn. “We were hoping to achieve something similar with the score, where there’s a contrast between mariachi music and something else.”