Luis Valdez

Acknowledged as the founder of modern Chicano theater and film, he was born to migrant farm workers and spent his early life traveling with the family, working in the fields himself. He studied at San Jose State College and later joined the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee, staging improvisational theater with the help of union actors to benefit farmworkers. This work led to the formation of his El Teatro Campesino, which produced most of Valdez’ early plays in both the U.S. and Europe. He has directed a number of films that remain touchstones of Latino and Chicano cinema and culture, most notably, Zoot Suit (1981) and La Bamba (1987).

Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia