Title: Vertices
Título: Vértices
Directed by: Arturo López Rodas
Country: El Salvador
Year: 2026
Running time: 60′
Genre/subgenre: Fiction, Drama, Social, Relationships, Independent Cinema, Auteur Cinema

Stars: Francisco Martínez, Ángel Flamenco, Francisco Graniello
Cinematography: Carlos Siri
Music: R.M. Valdez

Logline:
After a funeral, three old friends reflect on life and death.

Synopsis:
Good old Andrés passed away. Ricardo, José and Francisco meet at his funeral, after not seeing each other in almost thirty years. They used to be close, but life pulled them apart. The three of them agree to get a cup of coffee right afterwards and catch up, for old time’s sake. Soon enough, they start to behave like they were never estranged, visiting old meeting places while discussing life’s trivialities and the inevitability of death.

Director’s statement

Close friends usually grow apart over time. Life happens and treats people differently. The first draft of my script was about a group of old friends reuniting for someone’s birthday. I had just seen Tarkovsky’s “The Sacrifice” and I was inspired to make a story with a similar setting.

I sent my script to my good friend and filmmaker Francisco Menendez. I wanted his always wise feedback and, also, I wanted to shoot at the place where he grew up. His mom had passed a few months back and he was looking to turn the big old house into a true film school, which we don’t have in El Salvador.

“Of course”, he said. “I’ll read it on the weekend”. I don’t know if he ever read it. He had a heart attack a couple of days later.

I changed my script. Now it took place after a funeral. Vertices is a story about death and the need to understand and assimilate everything that it entails. It’s about my friends, but it’s also about my father and my friends’ parents, who are no longer with us. It’s a little bit about the people who leave and a little more about the people who stay. It is a reflective exercise in which the actors integrated their life experiences and developed their characters, enriching the plot. I am eternally grateful to be able to share something so personal