'American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez' brings Chicano history to Sundance

A “brujo,” a “magician,” “a societal arsonist” and the “father of Chicano Theater” — these are conscionable a fewer of the monikers that person been bestowed upon Luis Valdez implicit the people of his decades-long career. The 85-year-old filmmaker and playwright is liable for “La Bamba” and “Zoot Suit,” films that raised a procreation of Latinos and are present upheld arsenic classics — some were inducted to the National Film Registry of the U.S. Library of Congress.

Valdez awakened a movement, bringing Chicanos from the California fields helium grew up moving successful to stages and screens each implicit the world. His stories shifted the frame, placing america astatine the forefront of the American story, allowing america to spot our dreams, anxieties and struggles reflected backmost astatine us. In David Alvarado’s upcoming documentary, “American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez,” it’s the celebrated storyteller’s crook to beryllium connected the different broadside of the lens.

The movie traces Valdez’s beginnings arsenic the lad of migrant farmworkers successful Delano, Calif., to his aboriginal days successful theatre helming El Teatro Campesino — a traveling show troupe who worked alongside Cesar Chavez to mobilize farmworking communities, raising consciousness astir strikes and unions done skits and plays. Incorporating people humor, satire and Mexican history, their enactment aboriginal evolved to see commentary connected the Vietnam War, racism, inequality and Chicano civilization much broadly.

Narrated by Edward James Olmos, who broke retired arsenic the enigmatic pachuco with slayer benignant and a metallic lingua successful 1981’s “Zoot Suit,” the documentary was awarded the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film past year.

De Los spoke with Olmos and Alvarado up of the film’s satellite premiere connected Thursday astatine the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.

This interrogation has been lightly edited for clarity.

David, what was your instauration to Luis’ work? And however did it power you arsenic a filmmaker?

David Alvarado: I grew up watching things similar “La Bamba” with my dad, and it made a immense content connected me, but astatine the time, arsenic a kid, I didn’t truly cognize the sanction Luis Valdez. Then successful 2006, I was an undergrad astatine the University of North Texas, and I got a Hispanic Scholarship Award. At the celebration, Luis gave a code and I was conscionable blown away. I was a young wannabe filmmaker trying to larn however to marque movies, and idiosyncratic similar maine was up determination onstage telling a communicative astir however helium got there. I felt truly inspired and I ever carried that with me. Then successful 2021, I was astatine a juncture successful my vocation wherever I had told these subject and exertion stories, and I loved it, but I wanted to bash thing much personal. I thought backmost to Luis Valdez. Where was his story? So I reached retired to him and that’s wherever this each started.

Mr. Olmos, your breakthrough came from playing El Pachuco successful “Zoot Suit,” archetypal successful the play and past the film. What was your archetypal content of the story?

Edward James Olmos: I retrieve I had been doing theatre for years, and I was walking retired of an audition for different play astatine the Mark Taper Forum erstwhile I heard idiosyncratic say, “Hey, bash you privation to effort retired for a play?” And I said, “Excuse me?” And she said, “Well, bash you oregon don’t you?” And I said, “OK, what bash you privation maine to do?” I didn’t cognize who she was, oregon what the play was about, but the adjacent day, I was lasting determination with 300 different guys getting handed a small portion of insubstantial with the opening monologue [for “Zoot Suit.”] I knew from speechmaking it that this was serious, truly serious, truthful I conscionable became the quality immediately.

I retrieve erstwhile they called maine and asked maine to bash the role, it was connected a Friday night, astir 8 o’clock, and they were going to commencement rehearsals connected Monday morning. I hadn’t gotten immoderate telephone calls, truthful I thought [the part] was gone. Then each of a sudden, the telephone rang and they asked maine if I wanted the relation of El Pachuco. I said it would beryllium my honor, my privilege. I hung up the telephone and I slid down the broadside of the partition crying. I conscionable wholly mislaid it.

DA: Eddie truly stole the show. I mean, it’s conscionable undeniable. What helium brought [to the production] was precisely what Luis was looking for, and I deliberation it’s what Chicanos wanted to spot and perceive astatine the time. He truly struck a nerve, and that was a immense portion of the occurrence of “Zoot Suit.” What Luis tapped into with this collaboration with Eddie, with the Teatro Campesino, oregon aboriginal with “La Bamba,” that was his gift: uncovering radical who could correspond the existent quality of what it means to beryllium Chicano.

(Elizabeth Sunflower / Retro Photo Archive / Sundance Institute )

There’s truthful overmuch unthinkable archival footage present from the Teatro Campesino. What was your absorption to seeing immoderate of that aboriginal work?

EJO: That footage is priceless, and that’s 1 of the reasons this movie is truly important, due to the fact that Luis is genuinely idiosyncratic that has fixed our civilization a voice. He gave maine my voice. When you privation to larn astir a culture, you effort to survey what’s been written astir them, immoderate documentation oregon books, but thing compares to their art. Right now, I’m moving connected a portion with Luis called “Valley of the Heart,” a play that helium wrote implicit the past 12 years. It’s a never-been-told emotion communicative betwixt a Mexican American and a Japanese American successful an internment campy during World War II. It’s been hard to make, but erstwhile radical spot it, they’re going to beryllium thankful due to the fact that it doesn’t substance what civilization you are, the humanity of it comes through. That’s however radical volition consciousness aft seeing David’s documentary, too. It’s inspiring.

DA: I deliberation radical are acceptable for the existent communicative of America. I mean, the documentary and “Valley of the Heart” are portion of American history, they speech astir a existent American experience, and it’s not the benignant that radical perceive anymore. People are thirsty for that benignant of authenticity, and to re-evaluate what the American communicative truly is.

One of the halfway themes wrong the documentary is however we arsenic Chicanos presumption the American Dream: Can we execute it by being ourselves, oregon bash we person to assimilate? We spot that individuality conflict play retired arsenic Luis and his brother, Frank, instrumentality antithetic approaches successful their lives, and it’s aboriginal paralleled successful the communicative of “La Bamba.”

DA: That’s specified a halfway pillar of the film. We each privation the American Dream, but what that imagination is confusing to a batch of people. The quest to get determination done assimilation is thing that Chicanos, Latinos and different immigrants person tried astatine the disbursal of their ain practice and identity. They springiness it each up and laic it astatine the altar of the American Dream. They effort to acceptable in, and beryllium this different thing, and truthful often, that doesn’t work. In his ain life, Luis’ reply to that was if America is expected to beryllium this multicultural beacon of democracy, past let’s person a abstraction for Chicanos to play a relation there. I’ll clasp my civilization and beryllium an American.

He and his member tried to marque it together, but they weren’t taking the aforesaid approach. In Frank’s story, that caused him a batch of pain, and helium ne'er rather made it that way. Luis, successful precise important ways, did marque it. The information that his enactment speaks to those themes, and was portion of his idiosyncratic life, I couldn’t permission that connected the editing country floor.

In the documentary, we spot the triumph of “Zoot Suit” being the archetypal Chicano accumulation connected Broadway, and past the crush of it being panned by critics who didn’t look to get it. Mr. Olmos, you accidental that the absorption wasn’t a nonaccomplishment for you all, it was a nonaccomplishment for America. What did you mean by that?

EJO: Well, due to the fact that it wasn’t going to beryllium dispersed astir the state and understood. To me, the theatre is magic. When it truly works, it’s amazing. But [those antagonistic reviews] stopped america from that maturation process. There was 1 professional from the New York Times, Richard Eder, who said it was thoroughfare theatre connected the incorrect street.

I person to archer you, though, the radical who were fixed the accidental to spot that play successful New York, adjacent aft the critics panned it, ever gave america a cheering lasting ovation astatine the end. They burned the location down each azygous night. Even successful L.A., that play was monumental. But that disapproval wounded Luis badly, it wounded america all. I deliberation if we’d gone done Arizona, Texas, Chicago, Miami earlier hitting New York, we would’ve been a powerhouse that would inactive beryllium moving today. It’s 1 of those stories that deserves to beryllium revived implicit and implicit again.

The communicative of “Zoot Suit” is acceptable successful the 1940s, during a clip of aggravated scrutiny and favoritism for Mexican Americans. How did the communicative resonate successful the 1980s, and what bash you deliberation it has to archer america now?

EJO: People came from each implicit the satellite to ticker the play, but Latinos kept coming back. Some of them had ne'er been to a theatre earlier successful their lives, and they were bringing successful family, friends to travel and spot it each weekend. It was a beauteous experience, 1 that was similar giving a solid of h2o to idiosyncratic successful the mediate of the desert. They cherished america for giving them the opportunity. Now, we’re needed much contiguous than we were adjacent then. Today’s clip is uglier than astir immoderate time.

DA: It’s ugly, and it’s crass. We’ve had truthful agelong to effort to fig retired racism and get the American experimentation backmost connected track, and yet it conscionable feels truthful depressing. Like erstwhile is the rhythm going to end? At the aforesaid time, I anticipation that there’s a small spot of optimism successful the movie that the assemblage tin travel together, and that we tin find a mode done this.

The documentary does a large occupation of showcasing the powerfulness of art. The performances from the Teatro de Campesinos allowed the farmworkers to truly spot themselves successful a mode that helped physique a question and made for a palmy corporate action. What bash you anticipation this documentary tin thatch a caller procreation of Latinos today?

DA: For me, it’s to recognize who you are, and to bash what it takes to marque it enactment present successful America. When Luis spoke to maine from that lectern, the happening that truly got maine going was that helium said, “Whatever it is that you’re trying to do, immoderate your task is, conscionable halt doubting yourself and bash it.” I retrieve thinking, “Oh my God. Maybe I tin beryllium a filmmaker. Maybe I could archer stories for a living.” So I anticipation that that’s wide successful the film: that if you judge successful yourself, you tin acceptable into America, you tin marque a spot for yourself.

But also, cognize that instauration is an enactment of joy, and that the full constituent of beingness is to find happiness and stock it with different people. Despite each the dense things we’ve talked astir truthful far, I bash privation to constituent retired the movie is simply a joyful 1 of exploration. Luis has his moments erstwhile the satellite pushes backmost connected him truthful hard, and it’s painful, but helium conscionable has truthful overmuch emotion to give, and that’s the constituent of making art. I privation radical to locomotion distant reasoning that they tin bash it too.

EJO: David nailed it. That’s it exactly.