On May 1st, 2026, Gavilan College in Gilroy hosted a sold-out evening celebrating legendary playwright and filmmaker Luis Valdez. His documentary American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez had just won the Audience Award for U.S. Documentary at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. The event was presented in collaboration with the Gavilan College Foundation, the Watsonville Film Festival, and the Poppy Jasper International Film Festival.

In this episode, you'll hear conversations recorded live that night. I sat down with Luis Valdez and his wife Lupe Valdez, and spoke with a group of people whose work is deeply rooted in this region's education, arts, and civic life: Mattie Scariot, Festival Director of the Poppy Jasper International Film Festival; Dr. Pedro Avila, President of Gavilan College; Elvira Robinson, attorney and former Gavilan trustee whose decades of advocacy have shaped this college and this county; and Diane Ortiz, co-founder and CEO of Youth Alliance, a nonprofit she has built from a grassroots Hollister organization into a lifeline for thousands of young people and families across the South Valley.

We talked about Chicano storytelling, what Luis Valdez's legacy means for communities like ours, and why a room full of South Valley neighbors showing up on a Friday night to celebrate one of their own matters.