Labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta is getting her own film. The biopic will be directed and written by filmmaker and Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Gregory Nava (Selena).
“As our country tackles very challenging times, the moment is now to tell my story,” Huerta told Variety. “I’ve spent a year sharing intimate, never before disclosed details of my life’s journey to … Gregory Nava and [producer] Barbara Martinez, who I am thrilled will tell the untold story of my life.”
Huerta added that Nava “has made classic movies that are the most authentic and impactful of our American Latino experience” and that it’s her “hope that people will see this film and find inspiration to realize their own unlimited power.”
In 1962, Huerta co-founded the National Farm Workers Association with César Chávez, which later became the United Farm Workers. The organization was created to help improve the wages and working conditions of farm workers. Three years later, she helped initiate a national boycott of the California table grape industry to stop the exploitation of farm workers.
Huerta also coined the famous rallying cry “Sí, se puede” (“Yes, we can”) during Chávez’s 25-day fast in Phoenix in 1972.
According to Variety, Nava’s film will “dramatize Huerta’s life for the first time, delivering a multi-faceted portrait of a woman who became a movement leader, political activist, mother of 11, and dedicated environmentalist.”
During her career, Huerta, who just turned 94 on Wednesday (April 10), received several awards, including the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award from President Bill Clinton in 1998, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2012.
“Dolores Huerta gave us hope, a warrior who fought to make our world a better place,” Martinez said. “Her courage paved the way for Latinas, women, and all Americans. Her story made history and needs to be told now more than ever.”