This year marks the 20th anniversary of Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life), Allison Anders’s 1994 film which chronicles the lives of two women, Mousie (Seidy Lopez)and Sad Girl (Angel Aviles), living in Echo Park, Los Angeles. One of the first movies of its kind to focus on Chicana/Chola characters – many of the actors in the film were residents of Echo Park, some involved with barrio gangs – Mi Vida Loca became a cult classic. Mousie and Sad Girl are best friends involved in the same gang whose shared relationship with the man who fathers their children, Ernesto, brings turmoil.

Considering recent mainstream appropriations of Cholo/a fashion (from runway shows to tattooing), the authenticity of Mousie and Sad Girl’s self-representation is a reminder of the origins of urban 1980s/90s Latina culture.

In the aftermath of the beating of Rodney King and the Los Angeles Riots in 1992, Anders’s almost ethnographic methodology – she worked closely with many in the Echo Park neighborhood to accurately portray its resident’s dialogue and linguistic style, for example – was criticized as well as revered. To commemorate the anniversary, Sang Bleu has collected this series of stills from the film.