Maria's Story

Nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival, Maria's Story follows Maria Serrano, a wife, mother, and guerrila leader on the frontlines of the battle for El Salvador three years before the end of a brutal civil war. With unprecedented access, the filmmakers take you inside FMLN gueriila camps where Maria travels across the county in order to organize the impoverished population and plan a major nationwide offensive that helped lead the FMLN to a historic peace pact in 1992. The film's groundbreaking use of small format video allowed the filmmakers to live on the run with the guerillias for months at a time, giving the filmmakers unique footage not otherwise attainable. This intimate portrait shows a woman risking everything in her fight for justice and change as well as the love and camaraderie that can thrive in times of war.

Available for research at UCLA