Oregon Premiere

Everyone knows that Cesar Chavez formed the first US farm workers’ union, but have you ever heard of the union’s co-founder, Dolores Huerta? One of the 20th Century’s most defiant feminists, she fought tirelessly alongside Chavez for racial and labor justice. Like so many powerful women of her era, Dolores and her advocacy have been sidelined and diminished. False accusations (mostly about her personal life) pushed Dolores out of the very union she helped create. rough beautifully woven archival footage and interviews from contemporaries and from Dolores herself, this provocative and energizing documentary sets the record straight on one of the most effective and undervalued civil and labor rights leaders in American history. Subtitles 

Opening Night Film

Director’s Statement: Peter Bratt 

After interviewing farm workers, scholars, politicians, feminists, labor historians, and 10 of her 11 biological children, one thing became crystal clear: Dolores Huerta’s erasure from the historical record was deliberate. And if Dolores had been excised then only she could tell her story. Her voice. Her life. Her words. As we worked on the film, Dolores’ voice revealed a woman both heroic and awed. My hope is that people might now see Dolores’ story as part of their own, one that perhaps allows them to more fully, more honestly understand the last 50 years in America’s history and how it connects to and informs where we find ourselves today.