Intertidal Zone

La Zona Intertidal was made at a time when terrorist acts from both state and paramilitary were the order of the day in El Salvador and shaped the global perception of the country Instead of the agitprop montages that characterized the political cinema of Latin America in the 1960s and 70s this film is dominated by a feeling of deceptive calm a beach lapping waves a man reading in a hammock two men in conversation The violence that breaks into these scenes is hinted at more than it is depicted Only a closing text panel dedicating the film to the murdered teachers of El Salvador establishes a clear political context LA ZONA INTERTIDAL was shown at the Short Film Festival Oberhausen in 1982 and awarded one of the main prizes by the International Jury The festival program listed a Grupo los Vagos as the author of the film a fourmember collective that had begun working together in 1969 as the theater collective Taller de Los Vagos and later switched to the medium of film