Diego Luna's newest project is behind the camera as the director of "Cesar Chavez: An American Hero." The film follows the life and struggest of the civil-rights activist and labor organizer, Cesar Chavez. Starring in the movie are Michael Peña, as Chavez, America Ferrera, Rosario Dawson, Wes Bently, John Malkovich and a cameo from Gael García Bernal. The plot follows the efforts of the leader to organize a labor union for the farm workers in California. Chavez's fights opposition that turns violent and incites a revolution of human rights. Watch a trailer of "Cesar Chavez" down below!
In conjunction with the release of the film on March 31, a campaign has initiated with the goal of marking this day as a national holiday. Currently this day is only observed in California, Colorado and Texas to commemorate the legacy of the social activist. The petition calls for 100,000 signatures to urge President Obama and proclaim the holiday, which he has supported in the past. "Chavez left a legacy as an educator, environmentalist, and a civil rights leader. And his cause lives on," Obama said back in 2008 when he was Senator of Illinois. "I support the call to make Cesar Chavez's birthday a national holiday. It's time to recognize the contributions of this American icon to the ongoing efforts to perfect our union." You can sign up for the cause here: TakePart.com/Chávez
Although the setting of the film is in California, production took place in Mexico. "We traveled around California and nothing looks like it did in the '60s and '70s," Diego Luna told LA Times. Locations of the movie were shot in Sonora, the Mexican state that borders the U.S. state of Arizon as it had "the immensity of the fields that you saw in California, where you look forward, back, left, right, it doesn't end. You feel you can feed the whole country."
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