American Pachuco: The Legend Of Luis Valdez - Film Screening @ Fort Mason Center for the Arts

The inaugural season of Points of Departure, a series of events at Fort Mason, concludes with the San Francisco premiere of the award-winning new documentary American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez, directed by David Alvarado and narrated by Edward James Olmos (Insignia Films, 92 minutes). It chronicles the life and career of playwright, director, and filmmaker Luis Valdez, known as the father of Chicano theater. The film explores how Valdez transformed the American cultural landscape by bringing Chicano stories from the farm fields of Delano, California to Broadway and Hollywood. It covers his founding of El Teatro Campesino alongside Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers, as well as the creation of his iconic works Zoot Suit and La Bamba. The screening will be followed by an on-stage conversation with special guests.

Although his work has achieved international renown, Valdez has been closely identified with Northern California throughout his career. He is an alumnus of the San Francisco Mime Troupe, and his company El Teatro Campesino (based in San Juan Bautista) has frequently performed in San Francisco. Valdez’s plays and films have been seen in multiple venues at Fort Mason, including the Cowell Theater where this screening will take place.

Points of Departure is an ongoing series of unique live events celebrating the full spectrum of Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture (FMCAC) as a place of innovation and discovery, a personal port of embarkation for its community and a window on the world. Each inaugural program focuses on past and present residents, artists, organizations and events that have played key roles at Fort Mason and in San Francisco, celebrating the vibrant past, present, and future of FMCAC as it charts a course toward its 50th anniversary in 2027. For more information about the Points of Departure series, visit www.fortmason.org.