By Liz Lopez
Rating: A
During the Cine las Americas International Film Festival (CLAIFF) that showcases contemporary films from the US, Canada, Latin America, and the Iberian Peninsula, one of my favorite documentaries of the festival held in Austin was “Dolores” where it had an Austin Premiere. The film about the activist Dolores Huerta was an Official Selection-US Documentary Competition in the Sundance Film Festival, and was the Audience Award, Best Doc Winner at the San Francisco International Film Festival and the Montclair Film Festival, as well as the winner of the Golden Space Needle Award, Best Doc at the Seattle International Film Festival. The film is directed by Peter Bratt (“La Mission”) based on a script he wrote with Jessica Congdon.
The film provides the history and biography of the equal partner and co-founder of the first farm workers’ union that Cesar Chavez is often credited for creating. From this film we learn how important an activist she is in American history, as well as the personal sacrifice that has been made with her eleven children. Now at age 87, she is considered “one of the most defiant feminists of the twentieth century” and actively continues the fight for racial and labor justice to this day.
Aside from the interviews with Huerta for this story, they have some with Gloria Steinem, Angela Davis and Luis Valdez, as well interweaving historical footage from many of the marches, meetings, victories and the very difficult to watch scenes of the arrests and beatings that many endured during their efforts.
The film is in English and Spanish with English subtitles and duration is 98 minutes.
The film is Executive Produced by humanitarian and Grammy Award-winning musician Carlos Santana and the Consulting Producer is Benjamin Bratt.
About the director: Peter Bratt is an award-winning screenwriter and independent filmmaker whose first feature “Follow Me Home” premiered in competition at Sundance in 1996. For his work on “La Mission” (2009), Peter received the prestigious Norman Lear Writer’s Award amongst other accolades.
“Dolores” is presented as part of the Austin Film Society (AFS) series Cinema of Resistance, in collaboration with KLRU. Visit www.austinfilm.org for more details and screening times in Austin.
For more information about screenings in other cities, current or upcoming, visit https://www.doloresthemovie.com/
Source: Distributor: PBS Distribution