He was "one of the heroic figures of our time," said Senator Robert F. Kennedy about Mexican-American Civil Rights Activist César Chávez.

In a tribute to Chávez's powerful journey, Mexican actor Diego Luna directed a biopic on the influential leader called, "César Chávez: An American Hero," which will hit the big screen on April 4, 2014.

The film is co-produced by Academy award-nominated actor, John Malkovich and Mexican actor Gael García Bernal, among others. Michael Peña stars in the title role, Rosario Dawson stars as Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association with Chávez, as well as America Ferrera, who stars as Chávez's wife, Helen.

The impactful script, which includes passionate speeches and dialogue, was written by Keir Pearson, who wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay for "Hotel Rwanda."

"César led the historic non-violent movement for farm worker rights and dedicated himself to building a movement of poor working people that extended beyond the fields and into cities and towns across the nation," according to the United Farm Workers of America.

In 1962, Chávez founded the United Farm Workers of America, the nation's first successful and largest farm workers union that is currently active in 10 states. Many of its successes include: key UFW union contract victories, among them the largest strawberry, rose, winery and mushroom firms in California and the nation. Many recent UFW-sponsored laws and regulations aide farm workers; in California, the first state regulation in the U.S. prevents further heat deaths of farm workers. The UFW is also pushing its historic bipartisan and broadly backed AgJOBS immigration reform bill.

"He inspired farm workers and millions of people who never worked on a farm to commit themselves to social, economic and civil rights activism. César's legacy, like the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., continues to educate, inspire and empower people from all walks of life. He is a role model for all Americans and for generations to come."

"César Chávez: An American Hero" is the first English-language feature film for Luna, 33, who says he felt compelled to take on the story after his first son was born in the United States.

"I had a Mexican-American in the family," Luna told The Huffington Post. "The idea behind the film is to talk about a community that now I have a strong connection with...And I found out that no one has done a film about him and I don't think it has been celebrated enough. And I think it's the right time to tell the story of César Chávez."

According to the César Chávez Foundation, Chávez was a first-generation American, born on March 31, 1927, near his family's small homestead in the North Gila River Valley outside Yuma, Arizona. At age 11, his family lost their farm during the Great Depression and became migrant farm workers. Throughout his youth and into adulthood, Chávez traveled the migrant streams throughout California laboring in the fields, orchards and vineyards, where he was exposed to the hardships and injustices of farm worker life.

After attending numerous schools as the family migrated, Chávez finished his formal education after the eighth grade and worked the fields full-time to help support his family. Although his formal education ended then, he later satisfied an insatiable intellectual curiosity and was self-taught on an eclectic range of subjects through reading during the rest of his life.

Chávez joined the U.S. Navy in 1946, in the aftermath of World War II, and served in the Western Pacific. He returned from the service in 1948 to marry Helen Fabela, whom he met while working in fields and vineyards around Delano. Together they settled in the East San Jose barrio of Sal Si Puedes (Get Out if You Can), and had eight children, later enjoying 31 grandchildren.

Check out the movie's official trailer that was recently released by Pantelion Films: