Luna’s Cesar Chavez Biopic to Premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival

Diego Luna’s latest directorial effort is set to premiere in Germany…

The 34-year-old Mexican actor/director’s biopic Cesar Chavez: An American Hero will have its world premiere next month at the Berlin International Film Festival, according to the movie’s production company.

Diego Luna

The film about Latino icon Cesar Chavez (1927-1993) will be entered into the festival’s official program in the Berlinale Special section, which presents recent works by contemporary directors, as well as cinematic portraits of renowned personalities, Canana Films, which Luna co-owns with fellow Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal, said in a statement.

The cast of the biopic is led by Michael Peña, who portrays the late migrant farmworkers’ leader and civil rights activist.

Michael Pena as Cesar Chavez

Golden Globe winning actress America Ferrera portrays Chavez’s wife, while Rosario Dawson plays Dolores Huerta, Chavez’s partner in founding the National Farmworkers Association (later renamed to the United Farm Workers).

“Cesar Chavez represents the largest non-violent protest movement in U.S. history; his goal was to achieve basic human rights for the more than 50,000 farm workers in California,” said the production company’s statement.

“We think the film will send the message that change is in our hands. Chavez did something that everyone thought was impossible with courage that inspired an entire nation.”

Cesar Chavez, which will hit U.S. theaters on March 28 and arrive in Mexico on May 2, was filmed in the United States and the northern Mexican state of Sonora.

It marks Luna’s second foray into directing, after his hit 2010 comedy/drama Abel.

Ferrera to Star in the Relationship Drama “X/Y”

America Fererra didn’t have to go far to audition (and land) for her latest role…

The 28-year-old Honduran-American actress and former Ugly Betty star has landed a role in her husband Ryan Piers Williams’ latest film X/Y.

America Ferrera

The writer-filmmaker previously directed his wife in 2010’s The Dry Land, a film that earned Ferrera an Imagen Award nomination for best actress.

X/Y, which is being called a relationship drama, will take a look inside the lives and minds of an interconnected group of friends in New York City. The character-driven film explores the challenges people face in communicating and connecting.

In addition to starring Ferrera and Williams, the film stars Melonie Diaz, Jon Paul Phillips, Dree Hemingway, Adam Rapp, Ann Dowd and Common.

Production on the film has already begun in New York.

Ferrera will next be seen in Diego Luna’s Chavez, a biopic about labor leader and civil right advocate Cesar Chavez.

 

Peña Cast in Fox’s Drama Pilot “The List”

Michael Peña is officially on The List at Fox

The 37-year-old Mexican American actor has landed the lead role in Fox’s drama pilot The List.

Michael Pena

The project, from Paul Zbyszewski, Ruben Fleischer and 20th Century Fox Television, revolves around an intense deputy U.S. Marshal who must hunt down the person who stole “the list,” a file with the identities of every member of the federal witness protection program, when people on that list start getting picked off.

Peña’s character is described as a ruggedly attractive, oddly charismatic man, a notoriously quirky maverick who often gets into trouble with the bureaucracy.

Peña, who earned a 2013 Independent Spirit Award nomination for End Of Watch and starred opposite Ryan Gosling in Gangster Squad, recently wrapped up work with Ed Harris on the border drama Frontera.

He’ll next be seen portraying Cesar Chavez in the Diego Luna-directed film Chavez.

Ferrera Returning to Off Broadway…

It’s bye, bye Betty… and Hello, Bethany for America Ferrera

The 28-year-old Honduran American actress will be returning to Off Broadway this season to play the lead in Bethany.

America Ferrera

Written by Laura Marks, the dark comedy is set in an American community hit hard by foreclosures and economic woes, the play revolves around a woman who tests the limits of her own morality as she scrambles to regain her financial footing.

Produced by Women’s Project Theater, the world premiere will be directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch.

The play is scheduled to run January 11-February 17, 2013 at New York City Center Stage II.

The Emmy and Golden Globe-winning star of ABC‘s Ugly Betty’s last Off Broadway project was in the satirical Peanuts riff Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead back in 2005. Ferrera recently did an eight-week stint as Roxie Hart in Chicago on London’s West End.

Ferrera’s latest projects include appearing with Michael Peña in End of Watch, She’ll next appear opposite Peña in the Diego Luna-directed biopic, Chavez, playing the wife of Latin American civil rights activist Cesar Chavez.

Peña Appears in New “Gangster Squad” Trailer

Michael Peña’s about to go all gangsta…

The 36-year-old Mexican American actor is set to appear in the highly anticipated film Gangster Squad.

Michael Pena

As seen in the just-released trailer, the upcoming crime film chronicles the Los Angeles Police Department’s fight to keep Mickey Cohen and the east coast mafia out of LA in the 1940s and 1950s.

Peña, who will be starring as Cesar Chavez in a biopic about the legendary Latino labor leader and civil rights activist, portrays detective Navidad Ramirez in Gangster Squad.

Along with Peña, the cast includes Sean Penn as Cohen, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Emma Stone, Mireille Enos, Anthony Mackie, Nick Nolte and Giovanni Ribisi.

The film is set to be released on September 7, 2012 by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Participant Media Lands the Rights to Luna’s Cesar Chavez Biopic

It looks like Diego Luna’s biopic on Latino labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez will be making its way to theaters in North America…

Diego Luna

Participant Media has landed all North American rights to Chavez, which is being directed by the 32-year-old Mexican actor.

Based on a script by Hotel Rwanda scribe Keir Pearson, the film stars Michael Peña as the highly celebrated Mexican American labor organizer.

Cesar Chavez

The biopic focuses on Chavez’s work organizing the largest non-violent protest in U.S. history to aid more than 50,000 farm workers in California.

Luna’s Canana Films is producing the biopic, currently filming in Sonora, Mexico, and co-starring America Ferrera, Rosario Dawson, Wes Bentley, Michael Cudlitz and Gabriel Mann.

Chavez Biopic

Canana principals Pablo Cruz, Gael Garcia Bernal (who makes a cameo appearance in the film) and Luna are producing with John Malkovich (who stars as Bogdanovich, one of Chavez’s key adversaries.

Obama Awards Huerta the Medal of Freedom

She’s a political and cultural icon in Latino community… And, now Dolores Huerta is the recipient of the nation’s highest civilian honor.

President Barack Obama presented the 82-year-old Mexican American labor leader and civil rights activist with the Medal of Freedom on Tuesday at a special ceremony at the White House.

Dolores Huerta

Huerta—one of 14 recipients of the award this year, including novelist Toni Morrison, former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low—co-founded the National Farmworkers Association with César Chávez. It later became the United Farm Workers (UFW).

“I’m deeply gratified in receiving the Medal of Freedom. The freedom of association means that people can come together in organization to fight for solutions to the problems they confront in their communities. The great social justice changes in our country have happened when people came together, organized, and took direct action,” said Huerta about receiving the honor and her experience as a civil rights leader. “It is this right that sustains and nurtures our democracy today. The civil rights movement, the labor movement, the women’s movement, the equality movement for our LGBT brothers and sisters are all manifestations of these rights. I thank President Obama for raising the importance of organizing to the highest level of merit and honor. It is a unique honor and privilege to be included in this group of distinguished individuals being honored here today and the communities they represent.”

Dolores Huerta

Huerta’s sense of justice developed from an early age. Raised in Stockton, Calif., Huerta watched her father work for little pay in the fields, while her mother managed a hotel that often let poor migrants stay for free, according to the Daily Beast.

Using strikes, marches, boycotts and hunger strikes, the UFW has defended the interests of farm workers, including many immigrants, and pressured businesses to sign collectively bargained contracts. The union’s tactics often met resistance. Huerta has been arrested 22 times and been beaten for her activism.

Despite her run-ins with the law, Huerta has been influential in passing far-reaching legislation. Her accomplishments as a labor rights activist include helping pass California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975 and helping secure disability insurance for California farmworkers.

Today, the UWF boasts 27,000 members, powerful political allies, and is active in the states of California, Oregon and Washington.

Huerta’s special award— presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the national interests of the United States—comes just two weeks after the farm workers union celebrated its 50th anniversary.

In 2002, Huerta launched the Dolores Huerta Foundation with the mission of supporting community organizers and budding political leaders.

Alba: The Best-Dressed Latina at the 2012 Met Ball

It’s no wonder they call it the “Oscars of the East Coast”… The Metropolitan Museum of Art‘s Costume Institute Gala may celebrate the annual opening of the Metropolitan Museum‘s fashion exhibit at the Costume Institute… But it’s also the place to see Hollywood’s brightest stars dressed to impress in some of the season’s hautest gowns.

Hosted by Vogue, this year’s event proved to be another high-style affair, with several Latina starlets stealing the spotlight on the red carpet.

Here’s a look at the night’s best-dressed Latinas:

Jessica Alba at the Met Ball

Jessica Alba
It was a golden night for Jessica Alba, who will soon begin filming Machete Kills, the sequel to Robert Rodriguez’s 2010 cult classic Machete. The 30-year-old half-Mexican American actress shined brighter than the sun in a gold lame one-shoulder goddess gown from Michael Kors’ Resort 2012 collection.

Camilla Belle at the Met Ball

Camilla Belle
Much like Alba, Camilla Belle embraced this season’s metallic trend by donning a stunning Ralph Lauren Collection tulle-and-beaded dress in liquid gold. The 25-year-old half-Brazilian American actress accessorized the bold low-cut number with champagne-hued Ralph Lauren Collection sandals, Ralph Lauren Vintage Collection gems and dark red lipstick.

Rosario Dawson at the Met Ball

Rosario Dawson
She played a goddess in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief… And during Monday’s Met Ball Rosario Dawson looked like she was back in character. The 39-year-old actress of Puerto Rican and Afro-Cuban descent—who will be portray Dolores Huerta, the co-founder of the UFW in a film about Latino labor leader Cesar Chavez—flaunted her taut figure in a skin-tight black leather Calvin Klein creation, which she accentuated with bright blue earrings.

Gisele Bundchen at the Met Ball

Gisele Bündchen
Gisele Bündchen
, who is well on her way to becoming the world’s first billionaire supermodel, looked like a billion dollars on the red carpet. The 31-year-old Brazilian supermodel wore a slit-to-there beaded Givenchy Haute Couture by Riccardo Tisci gown, stylish sandals and jewelry by David Yurman.

 

 

Lea Michele at the Met Ball

Lea Michele
There’s nothing blue about Glee star Lea Michele’s navy blue Diane von Furstenberg with a high-slit and plunging neckline. The 25-year-old part-Spanish actress/singer—who was the best-dressed Latina at this year’s SAG Awards—paired her daring sequined gown with a Diane von Furstenberg clutch and Christian Louboutin shoes and a tassel necklace and other diamond jewels by Lorraine Schwartz.

 

Eva Mendes at the Met Ball

Eva Mendes
She may be starring as a neglectful mother in the soon-to-be-released film Girl in Progress, but there was nothing negligent about Eva Mendes’ look at the Met Ball. The 38-year-old Cuban-American actress wore a Prada tangerine silk strapless peplum dress with whimsical embroidery. Mendes paired the dress with a Prada clutch and Fred Leighton jewels.

Sofia Vergara at the Met Ball

Sofia Vergara
It’s no wonder she’s been named the most desirable woman in the world; Sofia Vergara looks absolutely stunning in her silver embroidered Marchesa gown. the 39-year-old Colombian bombshell and Modern Family star paired her standout gown with Casadei pumps and 

 jewelry.

La La Anthony at the Met Ball

La La Anthony
Talk about makin’ sparks fly! Reality star La La Vazquez Anthony rocked an electric blue Zac Posen dress with intricate bodice detailing. The The 32-year-old Nuyorican actress and entrepreneur, who recently launched her own cosmetics line, paired her oh-so-bright dress with sleek Mizuki drop earrings.

Cameron Diaz at the Met Ball

Cameron Diaz
Cameron Diaz
who will soon be appearing in the ensemble film about pending motherhood, What To Expect When You’re Expecting—was another of the night’s heavy metal stars! The 39-year-old Cuban American actress wore a snug, long-sleeved Stella McCartney golden gown with dramatic draped back. Diaz paired the dazzling dress with a coordinating gold metal clutch, also by the designer.

Peña to Star in Film About Labor Leader Cesar Chavez

Michael Peña will soon be portraying the nation’s most recognized Latino labor leader and civil rights activist.

The 36-year-old Mexican American actor—who has appeared in such films as Crash, Battle: Los Angeles, Lincoln Lawyer and World Trade Center has signed on to star as Cesar Chavez in a film about the Mexican American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist who co-founded the United Farmworkers Union (UFW).

Michael Pena

Chavez led the largest nonviolent protest in U.S. history to achieve the UFW’s goal of obtaining basic human rights for more than 50,000 farm workers in California.

“This man inspired an entire community to see themselves as deserving of basic rights and to rise up against injustice,” said Mexican actor Diego Luna, who will direct the biopic. “The film will send the message that change is in our hands — Chavez did something everyone thought impossible with a fearless grace that magnetized an entire country.”

Cesar Chavez

Rosario Dawson is on board to portray Dolores Huerta co-founder of the UFW; while Cesar’s wife will be played by America Ferrera.

In addition, Jacob Vargas has been cast as Chavez’s brother Richard and Yancey Arias as Gilbert Padilla.

The film is set to begin filming next month in Mexico.