El camino de la libertad
1983 · 61m · Documentary
Filmed on the war fronts of Chalatenango and Guazapa, the film is based on the construction of Local Popular Powers (PPL) in areas under guerrilla control.
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La decisión de vencer (Los primeros frutos)
1981
Filmed by Guillermo Escalón in July 1981, it shows daily life in territories under guerrilla control in the Francisco Sánchez Northeastern Front, Department of Morazán,
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Be A Patriot, Kill A Priest
2001
The war in El Salvador was the most cruel and bloody Latin America has ever seen. During that time of turmoil Latin American bishops created the famous preferential option for the poor, demanding justice, food and education in the name of the gospel. Using interviews and old footage, the film follows the civil war and the role of the Church in it. In 1977, after the murder of Father Rutilio Grande, the Archbishop Oscar Romero took a strong anti government position, broadcasting sermons over Radio Luz demanding that the government stop the repression. He could not understand why he was thought to be a follower of Karl Marx, when he knew "he followed only Jesus Christ." An inspiring film about people of faith who stood up against injustice.
More info →Return to El Salvador
2010
Return to El Salvador explores the reconstruction of El Salvador, post-civil war. The film revisits the struggles of the nation and examines what drives over 700 Salvadorans to flee their homeland each day, often risking their lives to illegally enter countries in search of a better life for their families. The film also profiles a number of Salvadorans effected by the civil war. One couple, who fled death threats in the 1980s, finds asylum and a political platform in the United States. The film also follows a different couple who, after escaping the war, returned to El Salvador to work with churches and poor communities.
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Maria's Story
1991 · ★ 9
It is El Salvador, 1989, three years before the end of a brutal civil war that took 75,000 lives. Maria Serrano, wife, mother, and guerrilla leader is on the front lines of the battle for her people and her country. With unprecedented access to FMLN guerrilla camps, the filmmakers dramatically chronicle Maria's daily life in the war.
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Tiempo de audacia
1983
This documentary juxtaposes scenes of El Salvador's opposition factions, including U.S. government advisors and government troops, and guerrillas and their sympathizers.
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The Crazy Life
2008 · ★ 6.4
A documentary about the rival gangs Mara 18 and Mara Salvatrucha, originating in Los Angeles but terrorizing El Salvador. It explores their origins as possible founding myths of organized crime in a globalized world.
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Borderlands
2023
Fleeing the 1980 Civil War in El Salvador, Dora Rodriguez, among a group of twenty-five asylum seekers, were abandoned by their guide and left to fend for themselves in the relentless Sonoran desert of Arizona.
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Tiempo de victoria
1988
It documents the civil war in El Salvador, in its first 8 years, as well as the political movements, and the human rights violations that occurred.
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Doble cara
1989
This documentary examines the formation of labor unions in El Salvador and the systematic violations of workers’ rights that characterized the country during the 1980s. Through testimonies and on-the-ground footage, it exposes the climate of employer authoritarianism and repression faced by workers, situating these conflicts within a broader history of social unrest that dates back to the 1930s and re-emerged with intensity in the 1980s. The film also depicts how the guerrilla movement carried out campaigns of political and labor awareness among peasants and workers, encouraging collective organization and the defense of labor rights. Ultimately, the documentary reveals the “two faces” of El Salvador: on one side, state power embodied by the army and the police; on the other, the opposition represented by guerrilla forces and grassroots popular organizations.
More info →The Massacre at El Mozote, Twenty Years Later
2006
Pedro Linger Gasiglia’s twelve-minute documentary "The Massacre at El Mozote: Twenty Years Later," offers first-person accounts of the horrors as well as the media’s lack of coverage.
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La luz que te decía
1986
Filmed during the Salvadoran civil war, La luz que te decía documents the struggles of the country’s labor and trade union movement amid escalating political violence. Through strike footage, congress meetings, marches, and first-person testimonies, the film portrays a society marked by state repression, workers’ mobilization, and efforts to build national and international solidarity. The documentary pays particular attention to the strike of the National Water Authority workers (ANDA), featuring members of the SETA union who describe the causes of the protest, the repression they faced, and the survival strategies adopted during the conflict. Testimonies from other unions, grassroots organizations, and international labor groups broaden the film’s perspective beyond a single labor dispute.
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