Cesar’s Last Fast: New indie looks at
Chavez’s faith
As part of the Sundance Film Institute’s little-known "Work in Progress" effort, a screening of the still-in-production documentary Cesar’s Last Fast took place in Los Angeles last week.
The film’s focus is Cesar Chavez, a Mexican-American farm worker who rose to the heights of labor leader, revered civil rights activist, and co-founder of what became the United Farm Workers union. Chavez died in 1993.
His leadership model was based on that of Zapata, Ghandi, Nehru and Martin Luther King. It was Chavez who coined the phrase "Si, se puede," used widely throughout the Latino community, especially in the southwest, during Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
Sundance’s Documentary Film Program, along with filmmakers Richard Ray Perez and Molly O’Brien, say Cesar’s Last Fast takes a "unique and very personal view of the intersection between Chavez’s faith and his activism." The story documents a 36-day fast undertaken by Chavez in 1988 as an act of penance for not having done enough for the cause of farm workers’ rights.
Following last week’s screening, actor Edward James Olmos and Chavez’s son Paul Chavez were on hand to discuss the legacy and impact of Cesar Chavez among the Latino community and throughout the nation.
Sundance’s Work-in-Progress screenings are interactive events that deal with the creative process and reveal the anatomy of a documentary in the making. Once Cesar’s Last Fast is completed and released, indie filmgoers in Albuquerque should be on the lookout for what promises to be a compelling documentary. Hopefully the Kimo Theater will pick this one up for screenings.