SU-S02E13 – Salvi Film History with Gladys

by | Nov 30, 2020 | Salvis Unidos Podcast | 1 comment

Episode 13

El Salvador has almost a century of film history. In episode 13, Gladys, a film history hobbyist, will take us through the country’s involvement in film from the late 1800s to 2020. Whether it’s Salvadoran acting talent, directors, or on-location filming, our Pulgarcito has a long history on the silver screen. 

Gladys Mazariega is a native of Antiguo Cuscatlan, raised in El Salvador and Hartford, Connecticut. She’s currently a judicial interpreter at Los Angeles Superior Court. She loves film and loves to share her Salvadoran film history hobby. She’s a member of Projecto Nawat through el Ministerio de Educación and Amigos de la Academia Salvadoreña de la Historia.

  • La Ofensiva Hasta el Tope in 1989
  • Canal 10 – discovering Salvi films and programs
  • Becoming a film hobbyist
  • Film showings in the late 1800s in El Salvador
  • Erupcion del Volcan de San Salvador (1917) (no copies)
  • Las Águilas Civilizadas (1930) – Alfredo Massi, Virgilio Crisonino
  • Anita Page – silent film actress – part Salvadoran?
  • Film in El Martinato – dictatorship of General Martinez
  • The Black Pirates (1954) filmed on location in El Salvador
  • Cinco Vidas y Un Destino (1957) – filmed on location in Santa Ana
  • Alejandro Cotto – director in the 60s
  • José David Calderón – director in the 70s
    • Nuestra Tierra (1959) (no copies)
    • Más Allá de la Angustia  – telenovela (no copies)
    • El Rio de Oro (1969)
    • Pasaporte al Mundial (1969)
    • Los Peces Fuera del Agua (1971)
  • War time limitations to film
  • Salvador (1986) by Oliver Stone
  • Romero (1989) by John Duigan
  • Moon Over Parador (1988) – by Paul Mazursky, a Central American war spoof
  • Murder at the Sheraton hotel
  • Malacrianza (2014) – directed by Arturo Menéndez
  • Cinema Libertad (2010) – directed by Arturo Menéndez
  • La Palabra de Pablo (2018) – directed by Arturo Menéndez
  • La Rebusqueda (2014) – co-written by and featuring Cristina Melendez, Salvadoran actress 
  • La Batalla del Volcán (2018) – directed by Julio López Fernández
  • The Path of the Shadows (2018) – directed by Baltazar Lopez
  • Hijab (2019) – series, written by Enfuego Productions, starring Andrea St. Martine 
  • Andre R. Guttfreund – first Salvadoran to win an Oscar
    • In the Region of Ice (1976)
    • Femme Fatale (1990)
    • ..and many more
  • Marcela Zamora, documentarian 
    • El cuarto de los huesos (2015)
    • Los ofendidos (2016)
    • …and many more
  • Hoy (2020) – directed and written by Ricardo B’atz 

Show resources:

Music:

Manos Arriba by Reyes Del Bajo Mundo

Share your thoughts:

  • Leave a comment below
  • Share show on social media
  • Leave review on iTunes
  • Subscribe!

Salvadoran Movies You Can Watch Now

This is a short list of some of the movies mentioned in this episode. There’s many more available if you search for the director or actor of your interest.

La Escuela de Cine y Arte Audiovisual (ESCINE) has put together a list of movies you can watch during quarantine. It has full length feature films, as well as documentaries. It’s a treasure trove of Salvadoran cinema, movies old and new, fiction and nonfiction. It doesn’t have every film but it has a good chunk of Salvadoran cinema condensed in one space

ESCINE’s Ciclo de Cine Salvadoreño 

Free

These older films can be found for free!

Rent or Buy

Support our national talent by renting or buying these Salvadoran-made films

Festival Circuit

These movies are going through the festival circuit in 2020. Check out their pages for the latest info:

Series

Hijab (2019) – Enfuego Productions, Salvadoran actress Andrea St. Martine as Rania Dominguez

Find us on:

1 Comment

  1. Frank Menendez
    Frank Menendez on December 3, 2020 at 8:26 pm

    Wonderful show..great LINKS…Some reflections; 1) Gral Martinez (1930s-1950s) and the Military Govts up to 1980s did for alvadorean Culture than todays democratic govts. In the Public Media Canal 10, Radio Nacional you can see films, documentaries, music form all over the world except Salvadorean/Central America. Once I met Oscar Winner Andre Guttfreund in LA ..I asked him why was it that audiovisual productions are few and far between. HE said that unfourtunately El Salvador does NOT have a Audio Visual Productions (investment) FILM laws, no Film School, no National Film Archive etc. For some reason some congress members voted against a FREE CENTRAL AMERICAN CULTURAL MARKET (CA+Belize+Panama)..Such laws would had eliminated all FISCAL costs for all cultural products (books,filcm, video, music) created, produced, bough and sold within the CAFTA countries. They also opposed the Orange Industries Laws…to connect govt institutions with private businesses…like Colombia, Mexico, etc. The legislature also refused to approve a 0.01% tax on all Media industries Newspapers, TV, Cable, Sat, digital, Movie houses to finance the National Arts Film Fund..like the BBC in the UK, and also France, Spain,Canada,…Film maker Jorge Dalton has been fighting to generate fianncing for a National Film Schools, an artsistic cluster TCS, Megavision, TVES, MayaVision to promote local talent and productions without any support. I still remeber from my infancy that it was obligatory for all Cines Nacionales to exhibit those 15minutes shorts about salvi culture…Ironically in the USA I discovered Peces fuera del Agua, Baltazar Polio, Alejandro Cotto, Jaime Escalante, Arturo Menendez…it is more ironic that a Hollywood Gringo Company is making huge$$$ producing shorts films, series about Salvi Gangs like MS13, Mara Salvatrucha, journalists, reporters making$$ covering Gang life in El Salvador for USA, Canadian, European markets..It seems that salvadorean artists, reporters, writers, film makers do NOT have the business outlook,expertise, acumen to go from the news, book, to the Films, videos, docudramas…Interesting that a USA Salvi was producing a Comic/Anime type of magazine about gang life…HE was arrested and deported from El Salvador…