Luis Valdez during an interview at the 25th anniversary of El Teatro Campesino, 1990, San Jose, California. Photo by Nic Paget-Clarke.

The San Diego Latino Film Festival is proud to pay tribute to writer/director Luis Valdez. Valdez, whose career as a creative artist and educator spans the length of the Chicano movement, has made significant contributions to American culture which have served to inspire a generation of filmmakers, theater artists and mediamakers.

By the time he graduated from San Jose State University in 1964, JFK was dead, Vietnam was escalating, the Beatles were taking America by storm, the Civil Rights Act established affirmative action programs and the bracero program was finally repealed. In the spirit of the times, Valdez, the son of migrant farmworker parents, joined the politically active San Francisco Mime Troupe. When the Delano Grape Boycott began in 1965, Valdez returned to the lush green valleys of his youth and brought his activist theater training to the aid of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers union by founding El Teatro Campesino. Through the use of actos, short humorous agitprop sketches performed anywhere that would serve as a stage including the back of flatbed trucks, Valdez and his grass-roots troupe educated, enlightened, organized and gave moral support to the striking workers.

At this early stage, Valdez was already involved in presenting the realities of an invisible and heretofore disposable social group that did not see itself protected or reflected in the culture. Even if the mainstream media balked at showing images of strikers in the fields or farm laborers being beaten by police and strikebreakers, Valdez's actos brought these images to the farmworkers themselves, in their own voices, keeping them informed and giving them a sense of hope and empowerment in the difficult struggle for dignity. El Teatro Campesino took up permanent residence in San Juan Bautista and continues as a vital organization to this day, having earned international acclaim and having played a significant role in the artistic growth of such Chicano theater groups as Culture Clash, Chicano Secret Service, Latins Anonymous, El Teatro de la Esperanza and others.

In 1977, during a residency at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, Valdez developed the play Zoot Suit, based on the zoot suit “riots” and the 1942 trial of Henry Leyva and eight other youths in the notorious Sleepy Lagoon murder case in Los Angeles. Using interviews, court transcripts, archival research, the songs of Lalo Guerrero and his own artistic vision, Valdez crafted a play which catapulted the Chicano voice of resistance and affirmation to the national cultural forefront. Zoot Suit, which was the first play by a Chicano to be produced on Broadway, was later adapted to film.

		Edward James Olmos (Zoot suit), Lou Diamond Philips (La Bamba), Luis Valdez, and Martin Sheen join others in showing their support for Cesar Chavez at the conclusion of his historic 36-day fast in support of the United Farm Workers campaign to boycott grapes and end the use of pesticides, La Paz, California, August 21, 1988. Photo by Nic Paget-Clarke.

Valdez's next film, La Bamba, was a critical as well as financial success. Released in 1987, it reclaimed the legacy of ill-fated rocker Ritchie Valens in the rock pantheon. The soundtrack, which was a chart-topping success in its own right, helped propel the career of Los Lobos to national status and raise awareness of the contributions of Chicanos to the American music scene, much as Zoot Suit had done regarding the music of Lalo Guerrero.

Since then, Valdez has been actively involved in many projects which draw from his diverse artistic capabilities, including writing and directing films and plays (Corridos, La Pastorela, The Cisco Kid and Bandido!), narrating documentaries and functioning as artistic director of El Teatro Campesino. Serving as perhaps the most eloquent and articulate spokesperson and cultural ambassador for Chicanos, Valdez has represented his culture throughout the world. In 1994, he was awarded Mexico's prestigious Aguila Azteca Award. Valdez, who was a founding member of the California Arts Council, is currently serving as a council member on the NEA’s National Council on the Arts.

He is currently on the faculty at CSU Monterey Bay teaching Arts, Human Communication, & Creative Technologies in the university's Teledramatic Arts and Technology Institute. As a college professor, Valdez, or “El Maestro” as he is often called by his students, is seeking to build a bridge between basic issues of human understanding, expression and communication and the rapidly expanding technological world which is challenging them. He is also serving as artist-in-residence at the San Diego Repertory Theatre and developing a film on the life of civil rights leader Cesar Chavez, a project which brings his career full-circle.

Throughout his career, Luis Valdez has remained true to bringing the light of understanding and empowerment to the dispossessed. Rather than trying to “break into the mainstream,” Valdez has continued to demonstrate that Chicanos have always been a vital element of American culture and history. His artistic voice has consistently combined the roles of storyteller, historian, educator and social activist to present works of unique power and resonance whose primary function is to champion the human spirit through a loud clear call for dignity, social justice and respect. It is for this reason that the San Diego Latino Film Festival is proud to pay tribute to Luis Valdez, an artist who has earned the right to be called “El Maestro”.

Victor Payan is a writer and filmmaker who has served as associate producer for the PBS documentaries The U.S.-Mexican War: 1846-1848 and The Border.