Lights Camera Austin Cesar Chavez segment: bit.ly/1eZGbBc Director Diego Luna’s Cesar Chavez chronicles the late Mexican-American labor leader and civil rights activist’s efforts in the 1960s and 1970s to unionize California grape pickers and fight against low wages and poor working conditions. World Trade Center and End of Watch’s Michael Peña stars as Chavez, who at one point in the film goes on a hunger strike in order to unify dissenting factions of his union that are conflicted over the use of non-violent tactics to advance their cause. The cast also includes America Ferrera as Chavez’s wife Helen, Rosario Dawson as Dolores Huerta, who co-founded with Chavez the National Farm Workers Association, which would later become the United Farm Workers. Producer John Malkovich also plays a fictional version of a industrial grape grower Chavez takes on. Cesar Chavez, which marks actor Diego Luna’s second film as a director following 2010’s Abel, premiered locally at this year’s SXSW Film Festival and opened March 28 in theaters on the eve of March 31s Cesar Chavez Day. I was among several members of the media during this month’s SXSW Film Festival to attend a Cesar Chavez press conference with director Diego Luna, stars Michael Peña and Rosario Dawson, and labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta. Aired March 27, 2014. Listen now to the segment: bit.ly/1eZGbBc
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 14:27:05 +0000
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