Filmmaker Laurie Coyle collaborated with the Chicana/Latina Foundation to create a half-hour digital documentary, Adios Amor. While working as lead researcher and associate producer for a film about Cesar Chavez, Coyle discovered some 200 photographs of Maria Moreno, a tenacious woman, mother of 12 children, and organizer of California’s migrant farm workers in the 1950s. Coyle went on to find Moreno’s work documented in recordings, pamphlets, and memorabilia, but lost track of her story after Moreno was fired by the union and moved out of state with her family.
Coyle worked with 12 young women from the Chicana/Latina leadership institute and who joined her in the search for Maria Moreno’s story, preparing them for the task with workshops in documentary research, creative storytelling, women’s history, and digital media. The collaborators presented the young women’s investigations and creative projects as a five minute video on the Foundation’s website and their insights contributed to Coyle’s documentary film.
Laurie Coyle is a producer, writer, and director, whose long-form documentary debut, OROZCO: Man of Fire, was co-produced by Rick Tejada-Flores, and broadcast on the PBS series American Masters. The film toured museums nationally under the auspices of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Access to Artistic Excellence Program.
Founded in 1977, the Chicana/Latina Foundation provides college scholarships, mentoring, and leadership programs to promote the professional and leadership development of young Latinas. Over 30 years, more than 400 Latina college students have benefited from Chicana/Latina Foundation scholarships.
Photo credit: George Ballis/Take Stock Images of Change