IMAGEN AWARD 2020 | RECOMMENDED - Video Librarian | San Diego Latino Film Festival
Women’s Studies • Latinx/Chicanx Studies • Labor History • Farmworker History • Biography • American Studies • Photography & Media Studies • Social Movements • U.S. History • Religion & SpiritualityDate of Completion: 2018 | Run Time: 59 minutes | Language: English & Spanish | Captions: Yes | Includes: Transcript | Director: Laurie Coyle | Producer(s): Laurie Coyle and Jane Greenberg
In ADIOS AMOR, the discovery of lost photographs sparks the search for a hero that history forgot— Maria Moreno, a migrant mother who sacrificed everything but her twelve kids in the passionate pursuit of justice for farmworkers. Years before Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta launched the United Farm Workers, Maria picked up the only weapon she had—her voice—and became an outspoken leader in an era when women were relegated to the background. The first farm worker woman in America to be hired as a union organizer, Maria’s story was silenced and her legacy buried—until now.
Professor Gabriela Arredondo, Chair Latin American & Latino Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz
"It’s a terrific film. I cried through several parts - so moving, and so captures the best of what is possible in historical work."
Dr. Evelyn Encalada Grez, Simon Fraser University Labour Studies
"Adios Amor is a beautiful and moving film that returns us to forgotten herstories we need to revive in order to continue strengthening farmworker movements in North America today. We are introduced to Maria Moreno a trailblazer out in the farm fields and movement for farmworkers' rights and are left with the inspiration of her legacy and tenacity. This film is a must for Chicano/Latinx studies, Women's Studies and for critical Labour Studies that centers the voices of the most vulnerable and defiant of workers."
EMRO (Educational Media Reviews Online) | Gisèle Tanasse, University of California Berkeley
"Adios Amor is recommended as an insightful and eye-opening biographical study of an incredibly engaging woman orator-organizer, fighting for farmworkers rights. It complements documentaries focused on other labor organizers well, and lends itself to critical study, at the intersection of labor studies, women’s studies and ethnic studies. Libraries and archives in particular will find value in the narrative of Coyle’s reflective research journey."
Video Librarian
RECOMMENDED "Laurie Coyle’s new documentary rescues an undeservedly unsung heroine of the farmworker labor movement, Maria Moreno, a Texas-born Mexican American woman who during the Great Depression was hired by the unions as the first female labor organizer in American history."
Booklist
"This is a moving tribute to a remarkable, mostly forgotten woman."
Peter Bratt, Director of Dolores
"Laurie Coyle sets out to discover what happened to Maria Moreno, another powerful Chicana organizer omitted from the history books, and what unfolds is an intimate character driven film that reveals the beauty and power of family, struggle and memory."
Professor Marla Prochnow, College of the Sequoias
“How did you make me miss someone that I just met?”
KQED Arts | Sarah Hotchkiss, Senior Associate Editor
“The fruit of Coyle’s labors is an hour-long documentary that, along with Peter Bratt’s recent DOLORES proves just how many strong, outspoken women shaped California history—and how many of their stories have yet to be brought to light.”
Manuel Rosas, Bakersfield College
“Just watched it AGAIN and got choked up AGAIN... I can relate on so many levels. I will have to watch the full screening alone in my car, away from the crowds, with plenty of Kleenex.”
Eugene Rodriguez, Los Cenzontles
“My mother picked produce alongside her family as a young child. It is a tough existence. But the spirit of Maria Moreno's children shone through regardless - thanks to the spirit in which their mother lived her life. It is important that these, and so many stories of working people, continue to be told. Congratulations.”
María X. Martínez, Chicana Latina Foundation
“Time to celebrate the birth of this amazing beautiful important piece of art and history. It has been echoing in my dreams and my thoughts since I saw it last night. Thank you for your courage and your artistry.”
Linda Ronstadt, Singer
“Watching your documentary again. It’s really so good.”
Director of ADIOS AMOR
Laurie Coyle explores the beauty and struggles of people excluded from our history books in her documentary filmmaking and writing. She began her career co-authoring a groundbreaking study in women’s labor history, Women at Farah, which continues to be taught in gender, labor and Chicana studies. Her most recent film, ADIOS AMOR: The Search for Maria Moreno, was broadcast on PBS VOCES and won an Imagen Award as part of the series. PBS American Masters aired her debut documentary OROZCO: Man of Fire (co-director Rick Tejada-Flores). Laurie has broadened the reach and impact of her films by engaging audiences directly. From the British Museum and Art Institute of Chicago, to first generation immigrant students and farmworker associations throughout rural California, her film-related presentations connect farm labor and migration, motherhood and activism, social justice and public art, historical narratives and community empowerment. Laurie co-founded the bilingual storytelling initiative MiHistoria and produces its online story archive www.mihistoria.net. The National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities are among the foundations that have supported her projects multiple times. In addition to directing and producing, Laurie has worked as a writer and story consultant with over 50 award-winning documentary filmmakers, including Lourdes Portillo, Loni Ding, Deann Borshay Liem, Leo Chiang, Jeff Adachi, Abby Ginzberg, Avon Kirkland, Tad Nakamura, Sally Rubin, Andrea Meller and Ray Telles. She has been a BAVC Media Makers and Latino Producers Academy fellow.