The Sundance Film Festival began - for the last time in Park City, Utah - and will move to Boulder, Colorado next year. In this 2026 edition, a greater presence of Latin stars is noticeably absent, something that had been achieved in more recent editions, but the first day brought us the premieres of the documentary 'American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez' by David Alvarado and the film “The Huntress” by Suzanne Andrews Correa.

Luis Valdez, a key figure in Chicano culture

Through archival footage, including protests from the Civil Rights Movement era, “American Pachuco” brings us closer to the life of Luis Valdez, a key figure in Chicano theater who helped introduce Mexican-American culture to the rest of the country.

The documentary takes us to Valdez's childhood, the son of itinerant farmworkers whom he often helped in the fields. Needing a sense of stability in that nomadic life, Valdez began to write poetry and plays. The film also depicts Valdez's reunion, as an adult, with his childhood friend "CC," the legendary farmers' rights activist Cesar Chavez. Veteran actors Edward James Olmos and Lou Diamond Phillips joined Valdez and his wife Lupe at the premiere of "American Pachuco." Phillips starred in "La Bamba" (1987), Valdez's biggest commercial success. Valdez also directed and wrote the film about 1950s Chicano rocker Ritchie Valens. The first day of the festival also saw the premiere of the Mexican-American film "The Huntress," starring Adriana Paz and directed by Suzanne Andrews Correa. Inspired by true events, the story unfolds against the backdrop of rampant violence against women in Ciudad Juarez, where a champion emerges with a desperate plea for change.

Adriana Paz (whom we previously saw in “Emilia Perez”) delivers a tense performance as Luz, a woman tormented by the harm she has caused herself, her coworkers, and her friends. She is determined not to let her teenage daughter endure the same experiences.

In the short film program,director Cristina Constantini premiered “La Tierra del Valor” (The Home of the Brave), about the anti-immigrant raids last summer in Los Angeles.

The Hispanic presence at Sundance was also evident from day one in the organization—the festival director is Eugene Hernandez—and in this year's jury, which includes Mexican documentary filmmaker Natalia Almada and Argentine filmmaker Ana Katz, who will judge the US Documentary and World Cinema Dramatic categories, respectively.