Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1543327
SPECIAL REPORT - SUNDANCE www.postmagazine.com 28 POST JAN/FEB 2026 Feature Head font varies for each feature These Avengers star in their own 'television show' BY KAREN MOLTENBREY F or 30 years, The Sundance Film Festival has been taking place in Utah, giving independent filmmakers an opportunity to premiere their work. This year's festival took place in Park City and Salt Lake City from January 22nd through February 1st, and featured a program that con- sisted of fiction and nonfiction features and short films, series and episodic content, performances and conversations. In the following report, a number of production and post production cre- atives share insight into working with a range of filmmakers and what they brought to each new project. American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez is a documentary feature that looks at the life of the Chicano playwright and director ("Zoot Suit," La Bamba), who recognized the profound impact an audience can experience by seeing their own humanity reflected onstage and on-screen. The documentary was directed by David Alvarado and brings the viewer close to Valdez, sharing his career milestones and cultural influence. The film makes use of split screens, archival footage and narration to tell Valdez's story. Daniel Chávez-Ontiveros edited the project and says he met director David Alvarado back in 2022 at a party during DOC NYC. "A year later, he emailed me saying he was developing a film about Luis Valdez, the famous Chicano playwright and filmmaker," recalls Chávez- Ontiveros. "I immediately said yes. When I was a kid in Mexico, I remember seeing La Bamba on cable TV and being fascinated by the film, by the story of Ritchie Valens, and because it was a Hollywood movie partially spoken in Spanish. Later, when I began watching the interviews David had recorded with Luis, I instantly connected with Luis's dreams of becoming a storyteller and his SPECIAL REPORT The 2026 Sundance Film Festival A look inside some of this year's independent features, documentaries and shorts BY MARC LOFTUS Carousel was shot on 35mm film. This Luis Valdez documentary was edited in Adobe Premiere.