Award-winning new movie on Chicano icon Luis Valdez lands in Bay Area

A new award-winning documentary that examines the life and cultural impact of groundbreaking writer, actor, director and filmmaker Luis Valdez will be screening in several Bay Area locations — including San Jose Stage Company — this weekend through Aug. 8.

“American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez” won two awards at the Sundance Film Festival in Colorado earlier this year, where it received its world premiere. Following its Bay Area premiere last weekend at San Jose Stage, the film has eight Bay Area screenings Friday through Aug. 8 before a national release. It’s expected to get its broadcast premiere this fall on PBS.

Among his many groundbreaking accomplishments, Valdez is credited with pioneering Chicano-themed film and stage arts and broadening mainstream popular culture by bringing Chicano characters and themes to the stage and screen. Among his best-known works are the 1979 play “Zoot Suit,” the first Chicano-penned stage work to show on Broadway, and which he later adapted for the big screen; and the 1987 film “La Bamba,” a biography of Chicano rock star Richie Valens starring Lou Diamond Phillips.

Valdez also founded and directed the influential Chicano theater company El Teatro Campesino in San Juan Bautista, which was founded with support from Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers in 1965 and is still running today.

Valdez was born in Delano, the second of 10 children to migrant farmworker parents. He graduated from James Lick High School in San Jose and was a student at San Jose State University when he wrote two of his earliest works, “The Theft” (1961) and “The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa” (1963) which was staged by the San Jose State drama department.

Over the years, Valdez has received such honors as the Presidential Medal of the Arts and the George Peabody Award.

“American Pachuco” was directed by David Alvarado, who’s also known for his 2017 documentary “Bill Nye: Science Guy.” It reportedly contains never-before-seen footage from El Teatro Campesino — much of it taken during the historic Delano Grape Strike — that was in danger of deteriorating beyond use.

The documentary also features interviews with Valdez, Edward James Olmos (who narrates portions of the film as well), Dolores Huerta, Cheech Marin, Lou Diamond Phillips, Taylor
Hackford, and Linda Ronstadt.

After its Sundance run, “American Pachuco” received the film festival’s Audience Award for U.S. Documentary and Festival Favorite Award. In November 2025, the film received the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film, which included a $200,000 grant. Filmmaker Burns praised the documentary and said it “illuminates a figure whose career in the arts broke down barriers,” according to the U.S. Library of Congress.

Now it is set for a week’s worth of screenings in San Jose, San Francisco and Elmwood.

“As a theater rooted in the heart of San Jose, we’re honored to celebrate an artist whose story is
inseparable from the cultural history of our vibrant region,” said Randall King, artistic director,
San Jose Stage Company, where the film is slated for three more showings. “Theatre legend Luis Valdez forever transformed the landscape of American theatre. Sharing this film with our community is our way of honoring a powerful legacy that continues to inspire artists, audiences, and storytellers everywhere.”

King added that San Jose Stage Company has collaborated with Valdez and El Teatro Campesino on such works as “Valley of the Heart” and the world premiere of “Adiós Mamá Carlota.”

Here’s a schedule of Bay Area “American Pachuco” screenings.

2 p.m. Aug. 2 and 9, and 7 p.m. Aug. 8 at San Jose Stage; www.thestage.org.
6:10 p.m. July 31 and 3:30 p.m. Aug. 2 at Roxie Theater, San Francisco, includes Q&A with Valdez, director David Alvarado and producer Everett Katigbak.
4 p.m. Aug. 1 and 7 p.m. Aug. 2 at Rialto Cinemas Elmwood, includes Q&A with Alvarado and Katigbak
7 p.m. Aug. 1 at Smith Rafael Film Center, San Rafael , includes Q&A with Alvarado