Manuel Sorto

Writing

Manuel Sorto

Born 1950-11-25 · Sensuntepeque, El Salvador

Manuel Sorto (1950-2023) was a Salvadoran film director, editor, actor, and writer. He was a founding member of El Taller de los Vagos, a theater group that would grow into a primary force behind the Salvadoran guerrilla film movement.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

La luz que te decía poster
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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.

La luz que te decía

1986

La decisión de vencer (Los primeros frutos) poster
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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,

La decisión de vencer (Los primeros frutos)

1981

Sistiaga, une histoire basque poster
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José Antonio Sistiaga is one of the greats in Basque contemporary art. Through lively exchanges begun in 1993 with his Salvadoran friend Manuel Sorto, we plunge into Sistiaga's intellectual intimacy and travel through a Basque history, following the steps of this experimental filmmaker and artist. This nearly two-decades-old project was taken up again in 2011, with the filming of the installation of Sistiaga's retrospective exhibition in San Sebastian, Basque Country, Spain.

Sistiaga, une histoire basque

2018

Sistiaga, une histoire basque poster
NR

José Antonio Sistiaga is one of the greats in Basque contemporary art. Through lively exchanges begun in 1993 with his Salvadoran friend Manuel Sorto, we plunge into Sistiaga's intellectual intimacy and travel through a Basque history, following the steps of this experimental filmmaker and artist. This nearly two-decades-old project was taken up again in 2011, with the filming of the installation of Sistiaga's retrospective exhibition in San Sebastian, Basque Country, Spain.

Sistiaga, une histoire basque

2018